The Judgments of Lords Justices Greer, Greene, and Scott in Ledwith v. Roberts
| Date | 01 January 1937 |
| Published date | 01 January 1937 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201833700100113 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Judgments
of
Lords
Justices
Greer,
Greene,
and
Scott
in Ledwith v. Roberts
WE
have already commented (p. 87) on the recent impor-
tant
case of Ledwith v. Roberts and have dealt with it
from the Police point of view in a special article printed at
page
122.
Only a brief recapitulation of the bare facts of the
case is therefore needed to preface the complete judgments
of the learned Judges.
The
facts of the case were two police officers had seen
two persons hanging about at a public telephone box in
Liverpool. One of the men concerned, namely Crothers,
remained in the telephone box for some time whilst the
second man, Ledwith, remained waiting about outside. These
two men were under observation by two members of the
Liverpool Police and, believing that Crothers was in the
telephone box for an unlawful purpose, they arrested both
men.
They
took them to the police station and detained them
there for
2!
hours to 3 hours.
The
two men Crothers and
Ledwith were then released, and then told they would
probably be summoned,
but
no criminal proceedings were
ever taken.
An action was brought by Ledwith and Crothers in the
Liverpool Court of Passage against the two police constables
claiming damages for false imprisonment.
The
explanation given by the plaintiffs in their state-
ment of claim as to their conduct on this evening was that
they went to the telephone box to receive a call, Crothers
going inside and Ledwith remaining outside.
For
the defence
it was alleged that the plaintiffs were not wrongfully arrested,
and further that they were kept under observation for about
twenty-five minutes and that they, the police officers, had
133
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