Causee v. Anders
| Decision Date | 30 June 1839 |
| Citation | 20 N.C. 388 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | PHILIP CAUSEE v. TIMOTHY ANDERS. |
Assault and Battery—Damages.
1. A tenant in common has no right to inflict a battery upon one who enters upon the land under the authority of the co-tenant; and in this respect there is no distinction between the co-tenant and one entering with him and under his authority.
2. In an action for an assault and battery the plaintiff usually and as a general rule has a right to expect a fair compensation in damages for the injury really sustained; but in addition to this the jury may be sometimes called upon to give exemplary damages by way of punishment, when it appears that the defendant was actuated by malice and a total disregard of the laws, and the plaintiff was in nowise to blame.
THIS was an action of trespass vi et armis for an assault and battery upon the body of the plaintiff.
Upon the trial at Bladen, on the last circuit, before his Honor, Judge Pearson, it appeared that the defendant was in possession of a tract of land to which one Meredith had title either in severalty or as a tenant in common with the defendant; that Meredith and the plaintiff under his authority, entered upon the land in the absence of the defendant, and broke open and entered a house there situate, and carried a loom, bed, and several other articles of personal property belonging to the defendant from the house into the yard, and then returned into the house with the view of staying there all night; that between midnight and daybreak the defendant, in company with one William Anders, came to the house and having by a stratagem prevailed upon Meredith to open the door jerked him out and knocked him down, then rushed into the house and knocked the plaintiff down, and as he was attempting to rise knocked
him down again. That at this instant William Anders, who was holding a gun for the defendant, came to the door and the defendant seeing him and supposing him to be Meredith, knocked him down, when Meredith and the plaintiff made their escape. All this knocking down was done with a large hickory stick loaded with lead at both ends, and it was proved that at the first blow which the plaintiff received three of his teeth were knocked out and his jaw bono fractured. He was a weakly old man and the defendant was a man of great strength, in the prime of life.
For the plaintiff it was insisted that the land belonged to Meredith in severalty, but if it did not, and he was but a tenant in common with the defendant, yet as the plaintiff was there under the authority of Meredith the defendant had no right to treat him in the manner proven.
The defendant insisted that he...
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