Imprisonment

Imprisonment is a legal term.

The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:

Imprisonment is no other thing than the restraint of a man's liberty, whether it be in the open field, or in the stocks, or in the cage in the streets or in a man's own house, as well as in the common gaols; and in all the places the party so restrained is said to be a prisoner so long as he hath not his liberty freely to go at all times to all places whither he will without bail or mainprise or otherwise.[1]

This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co.[2]

See also Bird v Jones (1845) 7 QB 742, (1845) 115 ER 668, (1845) 15 LJQB 82, (1845) 9 Jur 870, (1845) 10 JP 4, (1845) 5 LT (OS) 406.

Imprisonment without lawful cause is a tort called false imprisonment.[3]

Imprisonment is a type of sentence.[4]

See also English criminal law#General power of Crown Court to impose a sentence of imprisonment on conviction on indictment.

See also

References

  1. ^ John Rastell. Termes de la Ley. 1636. Page 202. Digital copy from Google Books.
  2. ^ Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co (1919) 122 LT 44, [1918-19] All ER Rep 1490 at 1502 and 1503 and 1507. (The passages in question are set out in R v Sayle, 29 September 2008, Court of General Gaol Delivery, Isle of Man.
  3. ^ Clerk and Lindsell on Torts. Sweet and Maxwell. Sixteenth Edition. 1989. Paragraph 17-15 at page 972.
  4. ^ Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice. 1999. Chapter 5. Section II. "Sentences of Imprisonment".