Ray v. Dodd

• Citation: 132 Mo. App. 444,112 S.W. 2
• Parties: RAY v. DODD et al.
• Decision Date: 29 June 1908
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

112 S.W. 2

132 Mo. App. 444

RAY v. DODD et al.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

June 29, 1908.

1. PLEADING — AMENDMENT — NEW CAUSE OF ACTION.

A petition for false imprisonment, charging that a commitment was issued after an appeal had been taken and a sufficient bond given, and not charging that the arrest, trial, and conviction before the justice were illegal and without jurisdiction, was properly not permitted to be amended so as to charge that the prosecution was based on an offense committed in a different township and for that reason the justice had no jurisdiction, since such amendment, if made, would substitute one cause for another.

2. CRIMINAL LAW—EFFECT OF APPEAL.

A justice of the peace had no jurisdiction to issue a commitment where an appeal had been taken and a sufficient bond given.

3. OFFICERS—LIABILITIES FOR OFFICIAL ACTS —JURISDICTION.

The rule that a public officer is not responsible for a judicial determination, however erroneous and however malicious the motive, is applicable only where he had jurisdiction.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jasper County; Howard Gray, Judge.

Action by Charles H. Ray against Thomas Dodd and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

H. L. Shannon and H. A. Fankersley, for appellant. T. C. Tadlock, for respondents.

BROADDUS, P. J.

This is a suit for false imprisonment. The allegations of the petition, in substance, are that the defendant Thomas Dodd, a justice of the peace for Preston township, Jasper county, and I. Y. Byers, of said township, unlawfully combined together for the purpose of depriving plaintiff of his liberty, and that, in pursuance of such unlawful combination, the said Dodd on the 23d day of August, 1907, issued a certain commitment and delivered the same to the defendant Byers. The commitment omitting caption is as follows: "Whereas, complaint has been made before me, a justice of the peace of said county, upon the oath of Fannie Ray, that Chas. H. Ray late of the county of Jasper and state of Missouri did on the 16th day of August, 1907, commit an assault and battery upon Fannie Ray, and whereas, the said Chas. H. Ray was brought before me upon a warrant duly issued upon the information of H. L. Bright, assistant prosecuting attorney, and has been examined by me on such charge and required to give a bail in the sum of $200.00 for his appearance before the circuit court of said county, on the first day of the next term thereof, which requisition he has failed to comply with, you are therefore commanded to receive the said Chas. H. Ray into custody in the jail of the county aforesaid, there to remain until discharged by due course of law." The petition recites that the commitment was delivered to the defendant Byers, who arrested plaintiff and delivered him to the jailer of the county, who put him in prison in the jail. And it is further alleged that plaintiff had complied with the said requisition...