RESISTANCE TO ILLEGAL ARREST

Authors

Abstract

Precisely how far an individual may go in resisting an illegal arrest either by an officer or a private citizen, is a question which is of vital importance to the citizen and police officials and one which the courts have not definitely settled. Personal liberty is so esteemed that under certain circumstances one should have the right to resist, to some extent at least, any unlawful interference therewith. But as Beccaria says in his CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS, "It is a false idea of utility which thinks more of the inconvenience of individuals than of the general inconvenience". Translation by James Farrer, ch. 38, p. 233. There must also be considered, therefore, the duty of the state to preserve the peace and to. protect the property and lives of its citizens and the right of the arresting party to his own life and personal integrity. In every case there must be ''a conscious quest for the broad principle that will do the work of securing the most interests with the least sacrifice of other interests." Pound, "Juristic Science and Law", ·31 HARV. L. REV. 1047, 1063. All the considerations involved must be balanced and weighed, for if the right of the individual comes into clash with the welfare of the government, the circumstances may be such that the former must succumb, since within the welfare of the government is held the welfare of all citizens.

Recommended Citation

RESISTANCE TO ILLEGAL ARREST, 23 Mich. L. Rev. 62 (1924).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol23/iss1/8