Branch v. . Bradley

3 N.C. 53

• Court: Superior Court of North Carolina
• Decided: July 5, 1798
• Status: Published

Opinion

Per curiam.

-The defendants plead a justification under a warrant to arrest the plaintiff’s negro ; they do not produce the warrant, but prove it by parol. The consto* Me must produce it or he cannot justify under it; the warrant is put in writing, to the end he may produce it when questioned for what he does pursuant to it; and without producing the YWi-mt, he is in the same situation as if none ever existed.— h "to suck of the defendants as were summoned to aid him iu rrfoin" the arrest, they may justify without producing the war-they were bound to assist the officer, and could not first ™q!tire í sight of his warrant; so whether he bad one or not, u q tv '.re bound to obey ; But if after they were summoned they acted Improperly, and did more than was necessary to compel a submission to the arrest, they were trespassers. And If the constable, after the arrest, suffered the negro to be beaten by Bradley, he was a.-trespasser■; for the arrest was made-for-the purpose of carrying him before a magrstste, and not for that of beating him without carrying him before the magistrate.

Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff vs. Bradley and the constable.' ’