Emmanuel v Lionel et Al

• Jurisdiction: St Lucia
• Judge: Manning, J.
• Judgment Date: 07 September 1959
• Neutral Citation: LC 1959 HC 15
• Court: High Court (Saint Lucia)
• Docket Number: No. 23 of 1959
• Date: 07 September 1959

Supreme Court of the Windward and Leeward Islands. (Civil Jurisdiction)

Manning, J.

No. 23 of 1959

Emmanuel

and

Lionel et al

Appearances:

Kenneth Monplaisir for plaintiff

Vernon A. Cooper for defendants

Tort - Unlawful arrest

Criminal law - False arrest

Facts: The issue was whether the defendant has unlawfully caused the plaintiff to be arrested by the constable the second defendant. Evidence accepted suggested that the defendant intended to have the plaintiff arrested.

The issues were whether an arrest made by the constable was unlawful and whether the second respondent caused the appellant to be unlawfully arrested. The appellant was the lessee and the respondent the purchaser of the land leased to the appellant.

Held: The arrest by the constable was lawful. The plaintiff had not stolen the articles which he had been accused been accused by the defendant. The judgment be given in favour of the constable and for the plaintiff. Plaintiff awarded $15 special damages and $100 general damages

The arrest by the constable was lawful but the respondent caused the appellant to be arrested unlawfully. Judgment given for the appellant in the sum of $100 general damages.

Manning, J.

1 This action has been heard during the Legal Vacation at the request of counsel for the plaintiff and counsel for the defendants. The plaintiff Emmanuel sues the defendants for damages caused by their act in taking him into custody without lawful cause on the 19 ^th January 1959.

2 There was a dispute between Emmanuel and the defendant Housin as to the right to occupy some land at Maisoneuve. Emmanuel was the lessee of this land, holding it for a term of five years from the 2 ^nd May 1958. The lessor had however sold the land to the defendant Housin on the 15 ^th December 1958, and Housin was apparently under the impression that he had an immediate right to enter on the land and assert his right to possession as owner. This dispute has been the subject of litigation and it has been decided by a magistrate's court and a Court of Appeal that Emmanuel's lease was not validly terminated until the 12 ^th of February 1959. This Court is therefore precluded from any finding contrary to what has been already decided on this issue.

3 Emmanuel had been reaping the crops of the land and picking the coconuts on it and on the 19 ^th January 1959, Housin determined to put a stop to this. He made a statement that he intended to arrest Emmanuel and procured the services of a rural constable named Lionel Stephens, the first defendant. The evidence of Emmanuel and his witness is that Emmanuel, on his return from Castries, found Housin and...