National Bank of Commerce v. Baker

.Fowler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an action for malicious arrest and false imprisonment. It was instituted in the Superior Court of Baltimore City by the appellee, William Baker, against the National Bank of Commerce of Baltimore, and the verdict being against the latter, it has appealed. The only question necessary to consider arises upon the exception taken by the defendant Bank to the separate instructions given by the Court below.

These instructions were, that the collecting clerk of the defendant had “no implied authority from the defendant to cause the arrest of the plaintiff, and that there is no evidence of the ratification of said arrest by defendant; and the plaintiff is not entitled to recover unless the jury find from the evidence, as. hereinafter set forth, that the defendant had previously expressly authorized or directed said arrest.” And “that if the jury find that, when said Henning (the collecting clerk) was about to go to plaintiff’s place of business to present the draft referred to, the cashier of defendant, from personal feeling or ill-will against plaintiff, or from some unlawful motive, instructed the said Henning or the officer to arrest the plaintiff, and to so arrest him, without regard to whether the plaintiff should give any just ground for arrest or not, and without regard to whether or not in case of arrest, there should first be procured a warrant or not, then the plaintiff is entitled to recover.” ⁴⁶⁴ It is contended by the appellant that there is a total absence of any proof to justify these instructions, in so. far as they leave it to the jury to find that the defendant or its cashier authorized or directed the arrest of the plaintiff, and with this view we agree. The officer who made the arrest says he had no orders from the defendant, but that his superior officer ordered him to go to or near plaintiff’s place of business and “see that there were no violations of the law committed.” The defendant’s collecting clerk says “the cashier gave me the draft and told me to present it to the plaintiff, and not to allow it to go out of my hands, but to present it for payment; to let him see it; to let him see everything that was on it, but to be as polite as