Samuel Kirk & Son v. Garrett

Citations

• 84 Md. 383
• 35 A. 1089
• 1896 Md. LEXIS 117

Syllabus

<p>False Imprisonment—What Constitutes Unlawful Detention—Arrest by Constable Without Warrant—Reasonable Ground of Suspicion a Question for the Court— Taking Person Arrested Before a Magistrate—Liability of one Partnerfor Tort of Another—Evidence— Admission of Party Against Interest—Testimony of a Grand furor—Larceny.</p> <p>An employee of a silversmith who carries away silver spoons, the property of his employer, with intent to appropriate the same, upon leaving with a fellow workman raw silver, equal in weight but not the equivalent in value of the manufactured articles, is guilty of larceny.</p> <p>No action of false imprisonment lies unless the arrest and detention of the plaintiff were unlawful.</p> <p>False imprisonment consists in the unlawful detention of one against his will. Where the person of his own free volition remains where he is, though at liberty to depart if he pleases, he is not imprisoned at all.</p> <p>A constable is authorized to arrest without warrant a person whom he suspects, upon reasonable grounds, either by his own knowledge or from information given by others, to be guilty of a felony, and such person may be detained until he can be carried before a magistrate.</p> <p>What amounts to a sufficient ground of suspicion to justify an arrest by a constable without warrant, is for the Court and not for the jury to determine.</p> <p>When a constable is informed by a silversmith that thefts are being committed by his employees and arrests the plaintiff after twice seeing him come from the silversmith’s shop with articles concealed in his pockets, and finds what the plaintiff admits to be the property of the silversmith in the plaintiff’s possession, there is not only reasonable ground for the arrest but clear proof of the plaintiff’s guilt.</p> <p>When a person is arrested, either with or without warrant, it is the duty of the officer or other person making the arrest to carry the prisoner without unnecessary delay before a magistrate.</p> <p>I