A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF MALICIOUS PROSECUTION, FALSE IMPRISONMENT, AND THE ABUSE OF LEGAL PROCESS, AS ADMINISTERED IN THE COURTS OF THE UNITED INCLUDING A DISCUSSION OF THE LAW OF MALICE AND WANT BY MARTIN L. NEWELL, COUNSELOR AT LAW, AUTHOR OF "SACKETT'S REVISED INSTRUCTIONS TO JURIES," CHICAGO: CALLAGHAN AND COMPANY. 1892 COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY MARTIN L NEWELL STATE JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, MADISON, WIS. PREFACE. In the preparation of this work it has been the design of the author to glean from the courts of last resort in the United States the leading adjudications upon the law of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and the abuse of legal process. In the work it is hoped that everything needed by the practical lawyer, both in the prosecution and defense of actions for the wrongs under consideration, will be found satisfactorily discussed and amply illustrated by adjudicated cases. In the first chapter the action for malicious prosecutions, both in civil and criminal cases, its essential elements, the nature of the wrong and where the action lies, is fully and exhaustively discussed, with illustrations of the law as applied by the American courts in adjudicated cases. Next the wrong known as false imprisonment is discussed, involving the law of arrest in civil cases and in criminal cases with and without process, amply illustrated by adjudicated cases from the American courts. As arrests without process frequently depend upon the nature of the offense committed, a brief but satisfactory discussion of felonies and misdemeanors, both at common law and under statutes, will be found in chapter five. Following this will be found a discussion of the liabilities of persons, both natural and artificial, to respond in damages for violations of personal liberty rights, and of the action to redress such wrongs in general. Malice in law and malice in fact, the question of the existence of probable cause, advice of counsel and the end of the prosecution as applicable to actions for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and the abuse of legal process, are discussed at large and illustrated by applications of the rules of law upon these subjects taken from the latest decisions of the American courts of last resort. Parties, plaintiff and defendant, infants and adults, attorneys and clients, husbands and wives, master and servant, |