Butler v. Stockdale

Citations

• 19 Pa. Super. 98
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 38

Syllabus

<p>Evidence — False ifnprisonmenb^-Newspaper articles — Record.</p> <p>In an action of trespass for false imprisonment, newspaper articles describing an alleged larceny by the plaintiff of the goods of the defendant and comments relating thereto are incompetent and irrelevant.</p> <p>It is proper in an action of trespass for false imprisonment to show that the defendant had no reasonable ground for making the arrest, and of this the Verdict of acquittal by a jury is evidence. In the trial of such an action it is therefore proper to admit in evidence the record of the court 6i quarter sessions showing .the acquittal. At such a trial the witnesses Who were examined in the quarter sessions may be cross-examined as to particular facts testified to by them in the criminal court.</p> <p>Assault and battery — Definition.</p> <p>Assault is an intentional attempt by force to do an injury to the person of another, and a battery is committed whenever the violence menaced in an assault is actually done, though in ever so small a degree, upon the person.</p> <p>There may be an assault and battery without any distinct physical injury resulting.</p> <p>False imprisonment — Evidence—Question for jury.</p> <p>In an action for false imprisonment the court commits no error in refusing binding instructions for defendant where it appeal’s that the defendant, suspecting that the plaintiff, a customer in his store, had appropriated some articles of merchandise, confined her in an upper room of the store for several hours, although the office of a justice of the peace was within a convenient distance of the store.</p> <p>False imprisonment — Damages—Mental suffering.</p> <p>In an action for false imprisonment, mental suffering, humiliation and injury to feeling are legitimate subjects of claim.</p>