Acts 16:22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The magistrates rent off their clothes,— This was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases, and it was also practised among the Jews. The latter part of this verse might be rendered more clearly thus: And the officers tearing off their garments, that is, of Paul and Silas, commanded them to be beaten with rods, by the hands of the lictors, or public beadles, to whom that office belonged.