Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. against The Right Hon. Charles Abbot
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1811 |
| Date | 01 January 1811 |
| Court | Court of the King's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 104 E.R. 501
IN THE COURT OF THE KING'S BENCH.
Affirmed, 4 Taunt. 401; 5 Dow. 165; 3 E. R. 1289 (with note), to which add, Fielding v. Thomas, [1896] A. C. 609.
REPORTS of CASES ARGUED and DETERMINED in the COURT of KING'S BENCH. By EDWARD HYDE EAST, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. Yol. XIY. Containing the Cases of Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas Terms, in the 51st and 52d Years of GEORGE III. 1811. [1] cases argued and determined in the court of king's bench, in easter term, in the fifty-first year of the eeign of george III. 1811. sir francis burdett, bart, against the eight hon. charles abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons. 1811. To an action of trespass against the Speaker of the House of Commons for forcibly, and, with the assistance of armed soldiers, breaking into the messuage of the plaintiff (the outer door being shut and ò fastened,) and arresting him there, and taking him to the Tower of London, and imprisoning him there; it is a legal justification and bar to plead that a Parliament was held, which was sitting during the period of the trespasses complained of; that the plaintiff was a member of the House of Commons; and that the House having resolved " that a certain letter, &c. in Odbbett's Weekly Register, was a libellous and scandalous paper, reflecting on the just rights and privileges of the House, and that the plaintiff, who had admitted that the said letter, &c. was printed by his authority, had been thereby guilty of a breach of the privileges of that House;" and having ordered that for his said offence he should be committed to the Tower, and that the Speaker should issue his warrant accordingly; the defendant, as Speaker, in execution of the said order, issued his warrant to the Serjeant at arms, to whom the execution of such warrant belonged, to arrest the plaintiff and commit him to the custody of the lieutenant of the Tower; and .issued another warrant to the lieutenant of the Tower to receive and detain the plaintiff in custody during the pleasure of the House; by virtue of which first warrant the Serjeant at arms went to the messuage of the plaintiff, where he then was, to execute it; and because the outer door was fastened, and he could not enter, after audible notification of his purpose, and demand made of admission, he, by the assistance of the said soldiers, broke and entered the plaintiff's messuage, and arrested and conveyed him to the Tower, where he was received and detained in custody under the other warrant, by the lieutenant of the Tower. [Affirmed, 4 Taunt. 401; 5 Dow. 165; 3 E. E. 1289 (with note), to which add, Fielding v. Thomas, [1896] A. C. 609.] Sir Francis Burdett, Baronet, complains of the Eight Hon. Charles Abbot, having privilege of Parliament, of a plea of trespass, for that the said Charles heretofore, [2} to wit, on the 6th of April 1810, and on divers other days and times between that day and the day of exhibiting_this bill, with force and arms, &c. broke and entered a certain messuage of the said Sir Francis, situate in the parish of St. George Hanover-Square, in the county of Middlesex, and on one of those days, to wit, on the 9th of April, in the year aforesaid, (the outer door of the said messuage being then and there shut and fastened,) with divers soldiers and men -armed with offensive weapons, forcibly and with strong hands broke open a certain window and two window shutters '501 502 BUEDETT V. ABBOT 14 EAST, 3. of and belonging to the said messuage of the said Sir Francis, and through the same broke into and entered the said messuage, and made a great noise,"disturbance and affray in the said messuage; and with force and arms made an assault on the said Sir Francis, and laid hands upon him, and forced and compelled him to go from and out of his said messuage into a certain public street there, and also then and there forced and obliged him to go-into a certain coach in, through and along divers other public streets and highways to a certain prison called the Tower of London, and there imprisoned the said Sir Francis, and kept and detained him in prison there, without any reasonable or probable cause whatsoever, for a long space of time, to wit, from thence hitherto; contrary to the laws of this realm, and against the will of the said Sir Francis; whereby he the said Sir Francis during all the time aforesaid was and still is hindered from transacting his lawful affairs, &c. to wit, at the parish aforesaid in the county aforesaid. And also for that the said Charles heretofore, to wit, on the day and year last aforesaid, with force and arms, &c. made another assault upon the said Sir Francis, to wit, at the parish, &c. and then and there seized and laid hold of the said [3] Sir Francis with violence, and forced and compelled him to go in, through and along divers public streets and highways to a certain prison called the Tower of London, and then and there imprisoned the said Sir Francis and kept and detained him in prison there without any reasonable or probable cause whatsoever for a long space of time, to wit, from thence hitherto; contrary to the laws of this realm and against the will of the said Sir Francis, whereby, &c. And also for that the said Charles heretofore, to wit, on the day and year last aforesaid, with force and arms, &c. made another assault upon the said Sir Francis, to wit, at the parish aforesaid, &c. and then and there imprisoned the said Sir Francis, and kept and detained him in prison there, without any reasonable or probable cause whatsoever, for a long time, to wit, from thence hitherto; contrary to the laws of this realm and against the will of the said Sir Francis. There was a fourth count for a common assault. The defendant pleaded, first, not guilty, to the whole of the trespasses charged. And secondly, as to the breaking and entering the said messuage of the said Sir Francis on one of the said days in the first count of the said declaration mentioned, to wit, on the 9th of April in the year aforesaid, (the outer door of the said messuage being then and there shut and fastened,) and with the said soldiers and men breaking open the said window and window shutters, and through the same breaking into and entering the said messuage, and making a noise and disturbance in the said messuage, and making the said assault on the said Sir Francis, and laying hands upon him, and forcing and compelling him to go from and out of his said messuage into the said public street there, and also forcing and obliging him to go in the said coach in through and along the said streets and highways in the [4] said first count mentioned, to the said prison called the Tower of London, and there imprisoning him the said Sir Francis, and keeping and detaining him in prison there for the said space of time in the said first count mentioned : the said Charles says, that the said Sir Francis ought not to have or maintain his aforesaid action thereof against him the said Charles, because he says that long before and at the said time when, &c. in the introduction of this plea mentioned, and during all the time in the said first count mentioned, a Parliament of our Sovereign Lord the now King was holden at Westminster in the county of Middlesex, and was and yet is sitting; and that long before and at the said time when, &c. in the introduction of this plea mentioned, and during all the time in the said first count mentioned, he the said Charles was and yet is a member of the Commons House of the said Parliament, and the Speaker of the said Commons House of Parliament; and the said Sir Francis also was and yet is a member of the said Commons House of Parliament, to wit, at Westminster, &c. And the said Charles further saith, that they the said Charles and the said Sir Francis, so being members of the said Commons House of Parliament as aforesaid, and the said Charles, so being Speaker of the said Commons House of Parliament as aforesaid, heretofore and before the said time when, &c. in the introduction to this plea mentioned, to wit, on the 6th of April 1810, at Westminster aforesaid, the said Parliament then and there sitting, it was in and by the said Commons House of Parliament resolved, that a letter signed " Francis Burdett," and a further part of a paper intituled "Argument," in Cobbett's Weekly Register of March 24th, 1810, was a libellous and scandalous paper, reflecting on the just rights and privileges of that [5] House ; and that Sir Francis Burdett, Bart, who had admitted the above letter and " Argument" to be printed by his authority, had been thereby 14 EAST, 6. BUBDETT V. ABBOT 503 guilty of a breach of the privileges of that House: and it was thereupon then and there in and by the said Commons House of Parliament ordered, that Sir Francis Burdett, Bart, be for his said offence committed to the Tower of London, and that Mr. Speaker do issue his warrants accordingly : as by the record and proceedings of the said resolutions and order remaining in the said Commons House of Parliament, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear. Whereupon the said Charles, so being such Speaker as aforesaid, in pursuance of the resolutions and order aforesaid, and according to the laws and customs of Parliament, did, for the execution of the said order, afterwards, and before the said time when, &c. in the introduction to this plea mentioned, to wit, on the 6th of April, in the year aforesaid, at Westminster aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, as such Speaker as aforesaid, make and issue his certain warrant under his hand and name, as such Speaker as aforesaid, directed to the serjeant at arms attending the House of Commons, or his deputy, to whom the execution of such warrant then and there belonged; in and by which said warrant, reciting that the House of Commons had that day adjudged that Sir Francis Burdett, Bart., who had admitted that a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Speaker of the House of Assembly (N.S.) et al., (1993) 146 N.R. 161 (SCC)
...On this point all the judges in the two great cases which exhaust the learning on the subject, -- Burdet v. Abbott [(1811), 14 East 1; 104 E.R. 501] and Stockdale v. Hansard [(1839), 9 Ad. & E. 1; 112 E.R. 1112]; -- are agreed, and are emphatic. The jurisdiction of the Houses over their......
-
New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Speaker of the House of Assembly (N.S.) et al., (1993) 118 N.S.R.(2d) 181 (SCC)
...On this point all the judges in the two great cases which exhaust the learning on the subject, -- Burdet v. Abbott [(1811), 14 East 1; 104 E.R. 501] and Stockdale v. Hansard [(1839), 9 Ad. & E. 1; 112 E.R. 1112]; -- are agreed, and are emphatic. The jurisdiction of the Houses over their......
-
Callely v Moylan and Others
...own procedure would, said Lord Ellenborough CJ almost two centuries ago, "sink into utter contempt and inefficiency" (Burdett v. Abbot (1811), 14 East 1, 104 E.R. 501, at p. 559) "Inefficiency" would result from the delay and uncertainty would inevitably accompany external intervention. Aut......
-
Minister for Home Affairs v Benbrika
...416 Constitution, s 49, discussed in R v Richards; Ex parte Fitzpatrick and Browne (1955) 92 CLR 157 at 167. See also Burdett v Abbot (1811) 14 East 1 at 159-160 [ 104 ER 501 at 561-562]; Kielley v Carson (1842) 4 Moo PC 63 at 89 [ 13 ER 225 at 235]; Gordon, “Imprisonment and the Separation......
-
The common law's hodgepodge protection of privacy.
...the Next Century" in Basil S Markesinis, ed, Protecting Privacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) at 4. (29) Burdett v Abbott (1811), 104 ER 501 at (30) Merest v Harvey (1814), 128 ER 761. (31) Greig v Greig, [1966] VR 376 (SC). (32) Lipiec v Borsa, [1996] OJ No 3819, 17 OTC 64 [Lip......