The plaintiff alleged false imprisonment and malicious prosecution after a private guard had arrested him at the defendant’s store.
Held: A private individual may justify his arrest of another on suspicion of having committed a felony only if he can show both that the offence was committed usually by a conviction for that same offence, and also that he had reasonable and probable cause for the suspicion giving rise to the arrest.
Sir Rufus Isaacs CJ quoted from Hale’s Pleas of the Crown: ‘The third case is, there is a felony committed, but whether committed by B or not, non constat, and therefore we will suppose that in truth it were not committed by B but by some person else, yet A hath probable causes to suspect B to be the felon, and accordingly doth arrest him; this arrest is lawful and justifiable, and the reason is because if a person should be punished by an action of trespass or false imprisonment for an arrest of a man for felony under these circumstances, malefactors would escape to the common detriment of the people.’
Sir Rufus Isaacs CJ
[1914] 1 KB 595
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Christie v Leachinsky HL 25-Mar-1947
Arrested Person must be told basis of the Arrest
Police officers appealed against a finding of false imprisonment. The plaintiff had been arrested under the 1921 Act, but this provided no power of arrest (which the appellant knew). The officers might lawfully have arrested the plaintiff for the . .
Cited – Regina v Self CACD 25-Feb-1992
The defendant had been accused of the theft of a chocolate bar from a shop, and of assault on the store detective who had detained him. He had been acquitted of the charge of theft, and now appealed against the conviction for the assault saying that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Torts – Other
Leading Case
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.259575
