1. Under the statutes of the Middle Ages which regulated the preservation of the peace eg the Assizes of Clarendon (1166) and Northampton (1176) and the Statute of Winchester (1285), the duty of apprehending criminals devolved upon the inhabitants at large. The hue and cry was a method used to alert all free men in a district to their obligation to pursue a criminal. Holdsworth, W, A History of English Law vol 1 Goodhart, A L and Hanbury, H G (eds), (1966) at 294–5.