4. In law, an arrest of judgment is the staying or stopping of a judgment after verdict, for causes assigned. Courts have power to arrest judgment for intrinsic causes appearing upon the face of the record; as when the declaration varies from the original writ; when the verdict differs materially from the pleadings; or when the case laid in the declaration is not sufficient in point of law, to found an action upon. The motion for this purpose is called a motion in arrest of judgment.
ARREST (from the French arrester, arrêter, to stop or stay) is the restraint of a man’s person, for the purpose of compelling him to be obedient to the law, and is defined to be the execution of the command of some court of record or officer of justice.
Arrests are either in civil or in criminal cases.
I. In Civil Cases.— The arrest must be by virtue of a precept or order out of some court, and must be effected by corporal seizing or touching the defendant’s body, or as directed by the writ, capias et attachias, take and catch hold of. And if the defendant make his escape it is a rescous, or rescue, and attachment may be had against him, and the bailiff may then justify the breaking open of the house in which he is, to carry him away.
Arrests on mesne process, before judgment obtained, are abolished by 32 and 33 Vict. c. 62, § 6; an exception, however, is made in cases in which the plaintiff proves, at any time before final judgment, by evidence on oath to the satisfaction of a judge of one of the superior courts, that he has a good cause of action to the amount of £50, that the defendant is about to quit the country, and that his absence will materially prejudice the plaintiff in prosecuting his action. In such cases an order for arrest may be obtained till security to the amount of the claim be found.
Until a recent period a judgment creditor might arrest his debtor under a writ of capias ad satisfaciendum, but since 32 and 33 Vict. c. 62 (the Debtor’s Act, 1869), imprisonment for debt has been abolished in England, except in certain cases, and in these the period of detention must not exceed one year....
The following persons are privileged from arrest, viz., lsZ, Members of the Royal Family and the ordinary servants of the king or queen regnant, chaplains, lords of the bedchamber, &c. This privilege does not extend to servants of a queen consort or dowager. 2d, Peers of the realm, peeresses by birth, creation, or marriage, Scotch and Irish peers and peeresses. 3d, Members of the House of Commons during the session of Parliament, and for a convenient time (forty days) before and after it. Members of Convocation appear to have the same privilege, ⅛th, Foreign ambassadors and their “domestics and domestic servants.” Temporary privilege from arrest is enjoyed by barristers travelling on circuit, by parties, witnesses, or attorneys connected with a cause, and by clergymen whilst performing divine service.
The arrest of any privileged person is irregular ab initio, and the party may be discharged on motion. The only exception is as to indictable crimes, such as “treason, felony, and breach of the peace.”
There are no longer any places where persons are privileged from arrest, such as the Mint, Savoy, Whitefriars, <fcc., on the ground of their being ancient palaces; but near the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh, a sanctuary still exists for the benefit of debtors, who resort there for such protection, and take lodgings within the precincts.
Except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, an arrest cannot be made on a Sunday, and if made it is void (29 Car. II. c. 7); but it may be made in the night as well as in the day.
II. In Criminal Cases.— All persons whatsoever are, without distinction, equally liable to this arrest, and any man may arrest without warrant or precept, and outer doors may be broken open for that purpose. The arrest may be made,—l st , by warrant; 2 d , by an officer without warrant; 3 d , by a private person without warrant; or, 4 th, by a hue and cry.
1. Warrants are ordinarily granted by justices of the peace on information or complaint in writing and upon oath, and i they must be indorsed when it is intended they should be executed in another county (see 11 and 12 Vict. c. 42). They are also granted in cases of treason or other offence affecting the Government by the Privy Council, or one of the secretaries of state, and also by the chief or other justice of the court of Queen’s bench in cases of felony, misdemeanour, or indictment found, or criminal information granted in that court. Every warrant ought to specify the offence charged, the authority under which the arrest is to be made, the person who is to execute it, and the person who is to be arrested.
2. The officers who may arrest without warrant are,—justices of the peace, for felony or breach of the peace committed in their presence; the sheriff and the coroner in their county, for felony; constables, for treason, felony, or breach of the peace committed in their view,—and within the metropolitan police district they have even larger powers; and watchmen from sunset to sunrise.
3. A private person is bound to arrest for a felony committed in his presence, under penalty of fine and imprisonment.
4. The arrest by hue and cry is where officers and private persons are concerned in pursuing felons, or such as have dangerously wounded others.
The remedy for a wrongful arrest is by an action for false imprisonment.
In Scotland the law of arrest in criminal procedure has a general constitutional analogy with that of England, though the practice differs with the varying character of the judicatories. Colloquially the word arrest is used in compulsory procedure for the recovery of debt; but the technical term applicable in that department is caption, and the law on the subject is generically different from that of England. There never was a practice in Scottish law corresponding with the English arrest in mesne process; but by old custom a warrant for caption could be obtained where a creditor made oath that he had reason to believe his debtormeditated flight from the country, and the writ so issued is called a warrant against a person in meditatione jugoe. Imprisonment of old followed on ecclesiastical cursing, and by fiction of law in later times it was not the creditor’s remedy, but the punishment of a refractory person denouncedrebel for disobedience to the injunctions of the law requiring fulfilment of his obligation. The system was reformed and stripped of its cumbrousfictions by an Act of the year 1837. Although the proceedings against the person could only follow on completed process, yet, by a peculiarity of the Scottish law, documents executed with certain formalities, and by special · statute bills and promissory-notes, can be registered in the records of a court for execution against the person as if they were judgments of the court.
Arrest of Judgment is the assigning just reason why judgment should not pass, notwithstanding verdict given, either in civil or in criminal cases, and from intrinsic causes arising on the face of the record.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2, p. 629 [1,164 words — estimated reading time: 7 minutes]
ARRESTMENT, in Scottish Law, denotes that process by which a creditor detains the goods or effects of his debtor in the hands of third parties till the debt due to him shall be paid. It is divided into two kinds,—I si, Arrestment in security, used when proceedings are commencing, or in other circumstances where a claim may become, but is not yet, enforceable; and 2J, Arrestment in execution, following on the decree of a court, or on a registered document, under a clause or statutory power of registration, according to the custom of Scotland. By the process of arrestment the property covered by it is merely retained in its place; to realise it for the satisfaction of the creditor’s claim a farther proceeding called “Forthcoming” is necessary. By old practice, alimentary funds, or those necessary for subsistence, were not liable to arrestment. By 33 and 34 Vict. c. 63, the wages of all labourers, farmservants, manufacturers, artificers, and work-people, are not arrestable except (1) in so far as thφ exceed 20s. per week; but the expense of the arrestment is not to be charged against the debtor unless the sum recovered exceed the amount of the said expense; or (2) under decrees for alimentary allowances and payments, or for rates and taxes imposed by law.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2, p. 630 [218 words — estimated reading time: 2 minutes]
V. cease, discontinue, desist, stay, halt, break off, leave off, hold, stop, pull up, stop short, stick, hang fire, halt, pause, rest, burn out, blow out, melt down, have done with, give over, surcease, shut up shop, give up, hold one's hand, stay one's hand, rest on one's oars repose on one's laurels, come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock, come to a full stop, arrive, go out, die away, wear away, wear off, pass away, be at an end, disintegrate, self-destruct, intromit, interrupt, suspend, interpel, intermit, remit, put an end to, put a stop to, put a period to, derail, turn off, switch off, power down, deactivate, disconnect, bring to a stand, bring to a standstill, stop, cut short, arrest, stem the tide, stem the torrent, pull the check- string, pull the plug on
Int. hold, stop, enough, avast, have done, a truce to, soft, leave off, tenez, phr, "i pause for a reply"
V. restrain, check, put under restraint, lay under restraint, enthral, enthrall, inthral, inthrall, bethral, bethrall, restrict, debar, constrain, coerce, curb, control, hold back, hold from, hold in, hold in check, hold within bounds, keep back, keep from, keep in, keep in check, keep within bounds, hold in leash, hold in leading strings, withhold, keep under, repress, suppress, smother, pull in, rein in, hold, hold fast, keep a tight hand on, prohibit, inhibit, cohibit, enchain, fasten, fetter, shackle, entrammel, bridle, muzzle, hopple, gag, pinion, manacle, handcuff, tie one's hands, hobble, bind hand and foot, swathe, swaddle, pin down, tether, picket, tie down, tie up, secure, forge fetters, disable, hamstring (incapacitate) 158, confine, shut up, shut in, clap up, lock up, box up, mew up, bottle up, cork up, seal up, button up, hem in, bolt in, wall in, rail in, impound, pen, coop, inclose, cage, incage, encage, close the door upon, cloister, imprison, immure, incarcerate, entomb, clap under hatches, lay under hatches, put in irons, put in a strait-waistcoat, throw into prison, cast into prison, put into bilboes, arrest, take up, take charge of, take into custody, take prisoner, take captive, make prisoner, make captive, captivate, lead captive, lead into captivity, send to prison, commit to prison, commit, give in charge, give in custody, subjugate
Adj. restrained, constrained, imprisoned, pent up, jammed in, wedged in, under lock and key, under restraint, under hatches, in swaddling clothes, on parole, in custody, doing time, cohibitive, coactive, stiff, restringent, strait-laced, hidebound, barkbound, ice bound, wind bound, weather bound, "cabined cribbed confined", in lob's pound, laid by the heels
V. go to law, appeal to the law, bring to justice, bring to trial, bring to the bar, put on trial, pull up, accuse, prefer a claim, file a claim, take the law of, inform against, serve with a writ, cite, apprehend, arraign, sue, prosecute, bring an action against, indict, impeach, attach, distrain, commit, arrest, summon, summons, give in charge, empanel a jury, implead, join issue, close the pleadings, set down for hearing, try, hear a cause, sit in judgment, adjudicate
And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
“Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
“That is a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.
In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me.
For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married.
And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away.
But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
But when they arrest you and hand you over, do not worrybeforehand what to say. Instead, speak whatever you are given at that time, for it will not be you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away, and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus and kill Him.
I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me. But this has happened that the Scriptures would be fulfilled.”
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