Evening star., 1927-05-14

| .--
| defining the right of wronged per-
sons to sue the arresting officer vim
| the civil courts.
Limits Are Defined.
"A peace officer is person desig-
mated by public authority. whose duty
1t is to keep the peace and arrest per-
sons guilty or suspected of crime,
the restatement of the law drafted by
committee of the institute declares.
Beyond the legal exercise of these
powers, the institute holds, the law
officer shall not go.
The institute further defined the
law as follows: "The use of force
against another for the purpose of
effecting an arrest or recapture OF
the other or of maintaining the ac-
tors custody of him, is not privileged
If the means employed are in excess
Of those which the actor reasonably
believes to be necessary"
III the means employed by the actor,
with respect t, the foregoing, are in
excess Of those which he is privileged
to use. it is further declared:
'1al The actor is liable for only
so much of the force as is excess We. !;
(b) the others liability for the use of
any unprivileged force against the
actor is not thereby affected; tc) the
other has his normal privilege to de-
an3 himself against such excessive
force"
With respect to so-calIed third
degree" methods and other abuses to
compel the admission of guilt, the
comment in the prepared draft states:
"Any person who has lawful Gus
tody of another who has been law
fully arrested may question the other
as to the offense for which he is ar
rested or any other crime, but the
other is privileged TO refuse to
answer Such person may not compel
the other against his will to answer
such questions or to do any act for
the purpose of showing his guilt or
innocence. Thus, neither the person
arresting the other or any person to
whom the custody of the other IL
lawfully intrusted may for such pur-
pose use force against the other or
unduly prolong the others imprisols
ment or in any other way use the
power which his custody gives him
over the prisoner. This includes tor
ture, and physical and mental hard
ship imposed under the so-called
third degree
"On the other hand. one who has
lawful custody of another who has
been lawfully arrested IS privileged
to use such force as is reasonably
necessary to search the other for the
purpose of securing evidence of the
crime for which the arrest is made
or for the purpose of protecting him.
self or third persons or to prevent the
others escape as where he reasonably
suspects that the other is in posses
oil nf lad xxpa nf
some article which he might use to
effect his escape"
The draft on the subject of torts,
which included the restatement of the
law on arrests, etc, was prepared by
Prof. Francis II. Bohlen of Harvard
University Law School. who had col
laborating with him Justice Rousseau
A. Burch of the Supreme Court of
Kansas: Prof. Herbert f. Goodrich
of the University of Michigan Law
School; Prof. James p. Hall Of the
University of Chicago Law School:
Justice Emmett N. Parker of the SUI
preme Court of Washington; Owen
J. Roberts, member of the bar of
Pennsylvania; Prof. Warren A. Sea-
vey of the University of Pennsylvania
Law School and Prof. Edward S.
Thurston of Yale University Law
School.
This afternoons session will be de-
voted to restatement of the law on
contracts, followed by adjournment OF
the institute at 5 o'clock.
Tonight's annual dinner at 1880
o'clock in the Mayfiower will bring to-
gether a distinguished group of law
yers. Jurists and Government officials.
George w. Wickersham, former Attor-
new General and president of the in
stitute, will preside. The speakers will
be DIR. William Searle Holdsworth,
Vinerian professor of English law at
the University of Oxford and fellow in
All Souls College at Oxford; Owen J.
Roberts. special Government counsel
in the naval oil land litigation, and
Silas III. Strawn. American member of
the Chinese Extraterritoriality Com
mission. Mr.. Roberts is a member of
the council of the institute.