What is the origin and basis in the law for the bondsman's right to arrest a person admitted to bail pending trial - in Mr. Justice Holmes' phrase this 'trace of the old relation' between accused and surety which still remains? It is bottomed on the common law principle that the accused is transferred to the friendly custody of his sureites and is at liberty only by their permission.

At the time of the Norman Conquest of England, the sureties for the accused were compared to his jailers and were said to be "the Duke's living prison." This relationship between them has been described in the cases since those days in like picturesque language. For example it has been said, "The principal is, in the theory of law, committed to the custody of the sureties as to jailers of his own choosing." "The bail have their principal on a string, and may pull the string whenever they please." Thus, in legal contemplation, when the accused is released on bail, his body is deemed to be delivered to his sureties. The contract of bail "like debt as dealt with by the Roman law of the Twelve Tables...looked to the body of the contracting party as the ultimate satisfaction."