IMPRISONMENT. The restraint of a man's liberty.
The restraint of a person contrary to his will. Co. 2d Inst. 589 ; U. S. v. Benner, Baldw. 239, Fed. Cas. No. 14,568; Johnson v. Tompkins, Baldw. 600, Fed. Cas. No. 7,416.
It may be in a place made use of for pur poses of imprisonment generally, or in one used only on the particular occasion, or by words and an array of force, without bolts or bars, in any locality whatever.; Pike v. Hanson, 9 N. H. 491; Smith v. State, 7 Humphr. (Tenn.) 43 ; Webb, Poll. Torts 259; 7 Q. B. 742; but it cannot be applied to the detention of a youth in a reform school ; State v. Brown, 50 Minn. 353, 52 N. W. 935, 16 L. R. A. 691, 36 Am. St. Rep..651. A forci ble detention in the street, or the touching of a person by a peace-officer by way of arrest, are also imprisonments ; Bac. Abr. Trespass (D 3); Lawson v. Buzines, 3 Harr. (Del.) 416. See Smith v. State, 7 Humphr. (Tenn.) 43 ; Coman v. Storm, 26 How. Pr. (N. Y.) 84. It is not necessary to touch the person, but it is enough if he is within the power of the officer and submits ; Mowry v. Chase, 100 Mass. 79. Forcibly taking a person in an omnibus across a city ; Moore v. Thompson, 92 Mich. 498, 52 N. W. 1000 ; or where a per son is constantly guarded by detectives so that he is at no time free to come and go as he pleases, but his movements are at all times subject to the control and direction of those who have him in charge; Pothering ham v. Express Co., 36 Fed. 252, 1 L. R. A. 474 ; constitute imprisonment. It has been decided that lifting up a person in his chair and carrying him ont of the room in which he was sitting with others, and excluding him from the room, was not an imprison-.
went; 1 Chitty, Pr. 48; and the merely giv-1 tug charge of a person to a peace-officer, not followed by any actual apprehension of the person, does not amount to an imprisonment, though the party, to avoid it, next day at tend at a pollee court ; 1 C. & P. 153; and
if, in consequence of a message from a sher iff's officer holding a writ, the defendant ex ecute and send him a bail bond, such sub mission to the process will not constitute an arrest ; 6 B. & C. 528 ; D. & R. 233. No other warrant is necessary for the detention of a prisoner than a certified copy of the judgment against him ; In re Brown, 32 Cal. 48; or of the precept on which the ar rest was made; Atherton v. Gilmore, 9 N. H. 185.
Where there is a constitutional provision that there shall be no imprisonment for debt except in cases of fraud, fraud must be found by a jury and judgment entered in conform ity therewith, in order to warrant such im prisonment; Ledford v. Emerson, 143 N. C. 527, 55 S. E. 969, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.) 362. An act authorizing imprisonment of one who ob tains food and lodging without paying there for is not an upconstitutional imprisonment for debt; In re Milecke, 52 Wash. 312, 100 Pac. 743, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 259, 132 Am. St. Rep. 968 ; Ex parte King, 102 Ala. 182, 15 South. 524; State v. Yardley, 95 Tenn. 32 S. W. 481, 34 L. R. A. 656; nor for con tempt for wilful refusal to obey an order to pay suit money and temporary alimony pend ing, a divorce suit ; Ex parte Davis, 101 Tex. 607, 111 S. W. 394, 17 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1140 ; Daly v. Daly, 80 Conn. 609, 69 Atl. 1021; State v. Cook, 66 Ohio St. 566, 64 N. E. 567, 58 L. R. A. 625 ; Bronk v. State, 43 Fla. 461, 31 South. 248, 99 Am. St. Rep. 119. But con tra of a statute providing for the imprison ment of -one who after receiving advances commits a breach of contract for farm labor ; Ex parte Hollman, 79 S. C. 9, 60 S. E. 19, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 242, 14 Ann. Cas. 1105. See PEONAGE.
See FALSE IMPRISONMENT ; ARREST ; INFA MY; FELONY; ACCUMULATIVE SENTENCES; POOR DEBTORS.