False Imprisonment Flashcards
Q: Is false imprisonment a criminal offence or civil wrong?
It is an offence/crime at common law and a tort/civil wrong.
You can bring an action in the civil court if you have been a V of a false imprisonment and seek some financial compensation in the form of damages.
Q: What type of offence is it?
Triable on indictment
Unlimited maximum penalty- any sentence up to and including life imprisonment
Q: What is the offence of false imprisonment?
It is an offence at common law to false imprison another person.
Q: What is meant by ‘false’?
It means unlawful or wrongful- without lawful excuse in other words
Q: What amounts to imprisonment?
Imprisonment here is some form of detention in the sense of a restraint of a person’s freedom of movement from a particular place.
Imprisonment includes an arrest, which is a deprivation of someone’s liberty.
Do not need to touch them for it to be imprisonment
Q: Examples of false imprisonment
Confining V in a room by locking it
Detaining them in the street or public place
Locking V in a vehicle
Unlawful arrest
Q: How large does the area of confinement need to be?
It is not an imprisonment to wrongly prevent someone from going in a particular direction such as by putting a barrier in front of him, so as he is still free to go in an alternative direction.
Preventing someone from going in any direction at all would be an imprisonment.
Q: How long does the imprisonment need to last for?
Does not need to last for a particular period of time before the offence is committed.
Any imprisonment no matter how small the duration may suffice.
Q: What amounts to an arrest?
Case law on arrest tells us a mere touch may amount to an arrest. Words alone can amount to an arrest, no physical restraint is needed.
This may also amount to an imprisonment.
Q: What if it turns out D did not commit the offence he was arrested for?
The arrest was still lawful, even if D did not commit the offence and D was therefore no falsely imprisoned.
Q: Can a parent lawfully exercise restraint over their child?
Yes- so as long as he remains within the realms of reasonable parental discipline and odes not breach any court order eg: ordering his child to stay in his room for an hour.
This means a parent can commit the offence in respect of the child, but he must be doing something unlawful.
Q: What is the MR required for false imprisonment?
Rahman case
Intention or subjective recklessness
D must either intend to imprison V or see the possibility of an imprisonment occurring, but nevertheless go on to take that risk.
Q: Would a lawful citizens arrest be a lawful imprisonment?
Yes! The offence would not be committed in this case.
Q: Is a householder acting lawfully if he detains someone, he believes to be a burglar?
Shawn Faraj 2007
It was not dealt with a citizen’s arrest, but as self-defence.
Householder believed gas repair man was a burglar and held him at knife point till police arrived.
Court stated that there was no reason why a householder should not be entitled to detain someone in his house whom he genuinely believed to be a burglar; he would be acting in defence of his property in doing so (a lawful detention of the person).
However, a householder would have to honestly believe he needed to detain the suspect and would have to do so in a way that was reasonable.
