Mason v Orr
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 28 November 1901 |
| Date | 28 November 1901 |
| Docket Number | No. 50. |
| Court | Court of Session |
Lord Kincairney, Lord M'Laren, Lord President, Lord Adam, Lord Kinnear.
ReparationAssaultPolice-officerRelevancy.
To make a relevant case of assault on the part of a police-officer on duty it is necessary to aver either (1) that the order which the officer was seeking to enforce was unlawful, that is, not within the scope of his duty; or (2) that the pursuer was willing to comply with the order, in which case the use of force would be unnecessary; or (3) that the force used was manifestly in excess of the requirements of the case.
In an action of damages against a police-officer for assault the pursuer averred that he was tenant of a warehouse the entrance to which was three steps below the street pavement, that while he was standing on the pavement (which formed part of his premises), along with some of his work-girls, waiting to see a procession pass, the defender began pushing the work-girls down the steps towards the door of the warehouse, and that the pursuer called upon the defender to desist. The defender thereupon got into a temper, and caught hold of the pursuer by the arm, and pushed and dragged him with unnecessary violence down the steps. The pursuer, along with his work-girls, was hustled by the defender and pushed down the steps and crushed and assaulted.
Held that the action was irrelevant.
This was an action raised by David Mason, manufacturer, Glasgow, against John Orr, superintendent of police there, concluding for 500 as damages for assault. The pursuer averred that he was tenant of premises, at a rent of 1050, which on the south-west were situated on the North Drive, forming part of the entrance to St Enoch's Station, that his landlords were the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company, that a foot pavement extended along the North Drive, that the pavement was included in the subjects leased to the pursuer, and that the solum of the North Drive belonged to the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company, that there was an entrance to the pursuer's premises from the North Drive, access being had thereto by descending three steps from the pavement, the door being about 5 feet from the steps. The pursuer further averred that, in connection with their visit to Glasgow for the purpose of opening the Exhibition, the Duke and Duchess of Fife had passed from and to St Enoch Station along the North Drive on the 29th April and the 3d May 1901, on the latter of which dates some of the work-girls in the pursuer's employment, to the number of thirty or forty, had lined the pavement to see the Duke and Duchess pass. (Cond. 7) In the course of said 3d May it became known that the Duke and Duchess of Fife would again arrive at St Enoch Station at about four o'clock in the afternoon on their way to Renfrew, and on the approach of that hour the pursuer's work-girls, to the number of thirty or forty, again left his premises and lined the pavement forming part of the premises tenanted by him as aforesaid. The pursuer gave permission for them to do so, and about the time when the royal party were expected to arrive, he himself left the factory and stood on the pavement beside the work-girls. Observing a Glasgow and South-Western Railway inspector in charge of the arrangements at the station, the pursuer, as a matter of courtesy, asked him if he had any objections to the work-girls occupying the pavement. Said inspector said, Certainly not. The pursuer thereupon returned to the girls, who were standing quietly on the pavement beside the wall of the pursuer's premises. Thereupon an...
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