ARREST IN CIVIL CASES

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ARREST IN CIVIL CASES


ARREST IN CIVIL CASES, practice. An arrest is the apprehension of a person by virtue of a lawful authority, to answer the demand against him in a civilaction. 2. To constitute an arrest, no actual force or manual touching of thebody is requisite; it is sufficient if the party be within the power of theofficer, and submit to the arrest. 2 N. H. Rep. 318; 8 Dana, 190; 3 Herring.416; 1 Baldw. 239; Harper, 453; 8 Greenl. 127; 1 Wend. 215 2 Blackf. 294.Barewords, however, will not make an arrest, without laying the person orotherwise confining him. 2 H. P. C. 129 1 Burn's Just. 148; 1 Salk. 79. Itis necessarily an assault, but not necessarily a battery. Cases Temp. Hardw.300. 3. Arrests are made either on mesne or final process. An arrest onmesne process is made in order that the defendant shall answer, afterjudgment, to satisfy the claim of the plaintiff; on being arrested, thedefendant is entitled to be liberated on giving sufficient bail, which theofficer is bound to take. 2. When the arrest is on final process, as a ca.sa., the defendant cannot generally be dis charged on bail; and hisdischarge is considered as an escape. Vide, generally, Yelv. 29, a, note; 3Bl. Com. 288, n.; 1 Sup. to Ves. Jr. 374; Wats. on Sher. 87; 11 East, 440;18 E. C. L. R. 169, note. 4. In all governments there are persons who are privileged from arrestin civil cases. In the United States this privilege continues generallywhile the defendant remains invested with a particular character. Members ofcongress and of the state legislatures are exempted while attending therespective assemblies to which they belong parties and witnesses, whilelawfully attending court; electors, while attending a public election;ambassadors and other foreign ministers; insolvent debtors, when they havebeen lawfully discharged; married women, when sued upon their contracts, aregenerally privileged; and executors and administrators, when sued in theirrepresentative characters, generally enjoy the same privilege. The privilegein favor of members of congress, or of the state legislatures, of electors,and of parties and witnesses in a cause, extend to the time of going to,remaining at, and returning from, the places to which they are thus legallycalled. 5. The code of civil practice of Louisiana enacts as follows, namely:Art. 210. The arrest is one of the means which the law gives the creditorto secure the person of his debtor while the suit is pending, or to compelhim to give security for his appearance after judgment. Art. 211. Minors ofboth sexes, whether emancipated or not, interdicted persons, and women,married or single, cannot be arrested. Art. 212. Any creditor, whose debtoris about to leave the state, even for a limited time, without leaving in itsufficient property to satisfy the judgment which he expects to obtain inthe suit he intends to bring against him, may have the person of such debtorarrested and confined until he shall give sufficient security that be shallnot depart from the state without the leave of the court. Art. 213. Sucharrest may be ordered in all demands brought for a debt, whether liquidatedor not, when the term of payment has expired, and even for damages for anyinjury sustained by the plaintiff in either his person or property. Art.214. Previous to obtaining an order of arrest against his debtor, to compelhim to give sufficient security that be shall not depart from the state, thecreditor must swear in the petition which he presents to that effect to anycompetent judge, that the debt, or the damages which he claims, and theamount of which he specifies, is really due to him, and that he verilybelieves that, the defendant is about to remove from the state, withoutleaving in it and lastly, that he does not take this oath with theintention of vexing the defendant, but only in order to secure his demand.Art. 215. The oath prescribed in the preceding article, shall be taken either by the creditor himself, or in his absence, by his attorney in fact or hisagent, provided either the one or the other can swear to the debt from hispersonal and direct knowledge of its being due, and not by what he may knowor have learned from the creditor he represent. Art. 216. The oath which thecreditor is required to take of the existence and nature of the debt ofwhich he claims payment, in the cases provided in the two precedingarticles, may be taken either before any judge or justice of the peace ofthe place where the court is held, before which he sues, or before the judgeof any other place, provided the signature of such judge be proved or dulyauthenticated. Vide Auter action pendant; Lis pendens: Privilege; Rights.

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