{"id":13120,"date":"2018-02-05T21:44:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T21:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13120"},"modified":"2018-02-25T17:52:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T17:52:03","slug":"supreme-court-rulings-pertaining-to-false-arrests-and-imprisonment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13120","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Rulings re: Unlawful Arrests\/False Imprisonment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help<\/a> >>>> Types of Laws and Corresponding Laws<\/a> >>>> Color of Law Crimes<\/a> >>>> Unlawful Arrest<\/a>.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

*************************<\/p>\n

Notice:<\/span> The following cases were compiled from<\/span> Constitution Society<\/a>; we have not yet<\/em> verified the below casebriefs from any primary sources.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Your Right of Defense
\nAgainst Unlawful Arrest:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCitizens may resist unlawful<\/i> arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer’s life if necessary.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 Plummer v. State<\/i>, 136 Ind. 306<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This premise was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad Elk v. U.S.<\/i>, 177 U.S. 529<\/span>, wherein the Court stated: \u201cWhere the officer is killed in the course of the disorder which naturally accompanies an attempted arrest that is resisted, the law looks with very different eyes upon the transaction, when the officer had the right to make the arrest, from what it does if the officer had no right. What may be murder in the first case might be nothing more than manslaughter in the other, or the facts might show that no offense had been committed.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAn arrest made with a defective warrant, or one issued without affidavit, or one that fails to allege a crime is within jurisdiction, and one who is being arrested, may resist arrest and break away. lf the arresting officer is killed by one who is so resisting, the killing will be no more than an involuntary manslaughter.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 Housh v. People<\/i>, 75 111. 491<\/span>; reaffirmed and quoted in State v. Leach<\/em>, 7 Conn. 452<\/span>; State v. Gleason<\/em>, 32 Kan. 245; Ballard v. State, 43 Ohio 349<\/span>; State v Rousseau<\/em>, 241 P. 2d 447<\/span>; State v. Spaulding<\/em>, 34 Minn. 3621<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhen a person, being without fault, is in a place where he has a right to be, is violently assaulted, he may, without retreating, repel by force, and if, in the reasonable exercise of his right of self defense, his assailant is killed, he is justified.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 Runyan v. State<\/i>, 57 Ind. 80<\/span>; Miller v. State<\/em>, 74 Ind. 1<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThese principles apply as well to an officer attempting to make an arrest, who abuses his authority and transcends the bounds thereof by the use of unnecessary force and violence, as they do to a private individual who unlawfully uses such force and violence.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 Jones v. State<\/i>, 26 Tex. App. I<\/span>; Beaverts v. State<\/em>, 4 Tex. App. 1 75<\/span>; Skidmore v. State<\/em>, 43 Tex. 93, 903<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAn illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any other assault and battery.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 (State v. Robinson<\/i>, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL. 260<\/span>).<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEach person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the position of a wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in self- defense.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 (State v. Mobley<\/i>, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100<\/span>).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOne may come to the aid of another being unlawfully arrested, just as he may where one is being assaulted, molested, raped or kidnapped. Thus it is not an offense to liberate one from the unlawful custody of an officer, even though he may have submitted to such custody, without resistance.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 (Adams v. State<\/i>, 121 Ga. 16, 48 S.E. 910<\/span>).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cStory affirmed the right of self-defense by persons held illegally.\u00a0 In his own writings, he had admitted that \u2018a situation could arise in which the checks-and-balances principle ceased to work and the various branches of government concurred in a gross usurpation.\u2019\u00a0 There would be no usual remedy by changing the law or passing an amendment to the Constitution<\/a>, should the oppressed party be a minority.\u00a0 Story concluded, \u2018If there be any remedy at all … it is a remedy never provided for by human institutions.\u2019 That was the \u2018ultimate right of all human beings in extreme cases to resist oppression, and to apply force against ruinous injustice.<\/span>\u2019\u201d (From Mutiny on the Amistad<\/i> by Howard Jones, Oxford University Press, 1987, an account of the reading of the decision in the case by Justice Joseph Story of the Supreme Court.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As for grounds for arrest: \u201cThe carrying of arms in a quiet, peaceable, and orderly manner, concealed on or about the person, is not a breach of the peace. Nor does such an act of itself, lead to a breach of the peace.<\/span>\u201d \u2014 (Wharton\u2019s Criminal and Civil Procedure<\/i>, 12th Ed., Vol. 2: Judy v. Lashley<\/i>, 5 W. Va. 628, 41 S.E. 197<\/span>).<\/strong> [1]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong> All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]: Constitution Society, “Your Right of Defense Against Unlawful Arrest”<\/em>: http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/uslaw\/defunlaw.htm<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

*******************************<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to<\/span> Unlawful Arrest<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Back to<\/span> Color of Law Crimes<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Back to <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Types of Crimes and Corresponding Laws<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Criminal Law Self-Help<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Home Page<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like this website?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please Support Our Fundraiser<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

or donate via\u00a0PayPal<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n