Divisional Court Cases
| Date | 01 April 1941 |
| Published date | 01 April 1941 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834100500203 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Divisional Court Cases
ARREST
WITHOUT
WARRANT UNDER
THE
FUGITIVE OFFENDERS
ACT, 1881
Diamond v. Minter &f Others
DOES
the power of a police officer to arrest on reasonable
suspicion of felony extend to felonies committed in any
part
of the British
Empire?
This
important question was
determined by Cassels J. on the 25th February, 1941, in the
course of a considered
judgment
in the above-named case.
This
was an action for damages for false imprisonment
brought against adetective-inspector and two detective-
sergeants of the Metropolitan Police.
The
fact giving rise
to the action was the arrest of the plaintiff on the 31st March,
1939, in a London hotel under aprovisional warrant issued
by the chief magistrate at Bow Street police court
under
the
Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881, for the arrest of one John
Forbes on a charge of conspiracy to defraud within the
jurisdiction of New
South
Wales. Forbes had been a
prominent financier in New
South
Wales,
but
at the beginning
of 1939 he
was'
wanted'
by the police of
that
country in
connection with charges of forgery and conspiracy to defraud.
Also in the early
part
of 1939 Diamond, the plaintiff, who
was a prominent citizen of Sydney and had some slight
acquaintance with Forbes, was travelling from Australia to
England.
On
the
loth
March, 1939, Diamond landed at
Bombay, where he met Forbes, who was
then
on bail with
the view to his being extradited to New
South
Wales on the
above-mentioned charges. Forbes came on board the plaintiff's
ship, where Diamond entertained him. After Forbes
had
left, Diamond found
that
his passport was missing, and when
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