Virtue v. Board of Freeholders of Essex

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Gummere, J.

The prosecutor, by this writ, attacks the validity of a resolution of the board of freeholders of Essex county, by which they decide to assume the custody of the common jail of the county and of the county penitentiary at Caldwell, and of the prisoners confined in those institutions. The object of the proceeding is to bring about a determination of the conflicting claims of the board of freeholders and of the sheriff, to the custody of'the jail and the penitentiary; the contention of the board of freeholders being that it is vested in them…