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In case of false return to writs the court may fine the sheriff or under sheriff.
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22. If any sheriff shall, for want of exercising due diligence, make a false return, not knowing the same to be false, with respect to any of the persons mentioned in the said writs or process which shall be directed and delivered to him, it shall be lawful for the Court of Exchequer, on application made to the court in that behalf, to inquire summarily into the truth of the charge, and, if they shall find that the same is true, to fine the sheriff by or in whose name such return shall have been made, or his under sheriff, in a sum equal to the full amount of the sum which the said sheriff was by the writ or process ordered to levy of the person with respect to whom such false return shall have been made, together with the full costs of such application, and to enforce the same by attachment against such sheriff or his under sheriff, as the court shall judge expedient.
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