The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-22
OATES ". BULLOCK.

OAIES V. BULlOCh. Acticn to Recover Damages for False Imnrisonment.-Appe from the Cir cult Court of Henry.
 1. False imprisonment; what necessary to impose liability.-Any person who pro- cures the issuance of . void warrant Is ha- ble in damages to the person named therein and who is arrested under the authority 1t Is supposed to import.
 3, Same; same; when liable though warrant procured on sufficient complaint. Where person ma xes sufficient com plaint before Justice of the Peace fense. if. after making such complaint, he by any unlawfI Il act, though its un- lawfulness lie. only in inadvertence or negligence, causes the magistrate to issue cures the issuance of such void warrant by the officer and Is liable to the person who is charged with the offense and ar rested under the warrant.
 5. Same: same: same.-Where per son, though he maKes a sufficient com plaint before a magistrate. charging an- other with a criminal offense, by some wrongful act causes the magistrate to issue void warrant for the arrest of the person charged with the offense, 1t Is not necessary to render him liable for the false Imprisonment of the person ar- rested under the warrant so issued, that the wrongful act on his part should be the sole cause of the issuance of the warrant; since If the fault of the prose- cutor combined with the fault of the magistrate in issuing the warrant the Imprisonment is caused by the fault of each and both of them.
 4. Same same; same; case at bar.- In an action to recover damages for false Imprisonment, 1t was shown that the defendant carried to Justice of the Peace a sheet of paper on which was partly written and partly printed an af- fidavit charging the plaintiff with criminal offense and below the affidavit there was warrant for his arrest upon said charge; there was no signature to the affidavit ,only to the jurat thereof, nor to the warrant, but blank spaces were left for these signatures. The defendant swore to the facts stated in the affidavit and when given the paper to. sign by warrant and then handed the paper to the Justice and the latter signed only the Jurat and the affidavit. The paper containing the affidavit and warrant thus signed was delivered by the Justice of the Peace to the constable for the exc cution of the supposed warrant; the con stable arrested the plaintiff under the sup posed warrant and committed him to jail. Held: That 1t was open to the jury to find that the defendants inadvertence and negligence in signing his own name to the warrant caused the Justice to sign the jurat, because that was the only remaining blank space and to omit to sign the warrant, and therefore to issue void warrant under which the plaintiff was arrested; and upon so finding the jury was authorized to find that the is suance of the void warrant was procured by the defendant for which he was lia- hle to the plaintiff for his unlawful ar rest. -f
 5. Warrant; void unless signed by off, cer issuing it.--A paper in the form of an intended to be a warrant and issued by magistrate, is void unless it is ac- tually signed by the magistrate issuing it.
 6. Action for false imprisonnAent; em- ployment of counsel not ratification of plaintiffs unlawful arrest: charge of court to jury.-In an action to recover damages for false Imprisonment, if the defendant did not know the Justice of the Peace who had Issued the warrant upon his affidavit had issued a warrant with out signing 1t, and did not know that the plaintiff had been arrested under such a void warrant, the defendants employ ment of counsel for the purpose of pros- ecuting the person charged with the criminal offense, can not be construed in- to ratification of the plaintiffs unlaw- ful arrest by the constable under the l.void warrant; and a charge which so the requesS of the defendant '. Action for false Imprisonment; ad- | instability of evidence.-In an action to recover damages for false imprisonment arrested under supposed warrant charg- ing him with the offense of removing property on which there was a mort gage, and that this warrant was issued upon an affidavit made by the defendant in the pending suit. and in some of the counts of the complaint the defendant is | charged with having maliciously caused the unlawful arrest of the plaintiff the defendant should be permitted to prove that the plaintiff had given him the mort gage on certain property and that he had probable cause for believing that plaintiff had removed It.
 Tn permissible for the defendant 10 show when the fact that the warrant had been issued without the signature of the Justice came to his knowledge. such fact being pertinent to the inquiry arising in such case. as to whether the defendant ratified the unlawful arrest by plaintiff by employing counsel to prosecute him
 Reversed and reman1ed. Opinion by Mcclellan c T '