Smith v. Lott

249 P.2d 803, 73 Idaho 205, 1952 Ida. LEXIS 232
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 29, 1952
Docket7911
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 249 P.2d 803 (Smith v. Lott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Lott, 249 P.2d 803, 73 Idaho 205, 1952 Ida. LEXIS 232 (Idaho 1952).

Opinion

KEETON, Justice.

Plaintiff, appellant, seeks to recover general and special damages from respondent C. N. Lott, 'because of a claimed unlawful arrest on the night of July 14, 1951.

The amended complaint alleged that defendant Lott was an appointed, authorized and acting state highway patrolman of Idaho; on July 14, 1951, in the night time, he arrested the plaintiff without any warrant for an alleged traffic violation; refused to explain to plaintiff of what traffic violation he was alleged to be guilty; that plaintiff submitted to the arrest without resistance, and that Lott committed battery upon him, and used force and violence on his person; that plaintiff was then taken before a justice of the peace, who fixed a $200 cash bond, and plaintiff being unable to give bond was committed to jail where he remained until 4 o’clock the next day..

Plaintiff further alleges his residence to be Pocatello, that he is employed there, and alleges there was no occasion either to-arrest plaintiff on a traffic violation without a warrant, or to commit him to jail to insure his presence. The complaint then contains damage allegations unnecessary to recite.

*207 Defendant (respondent) demurred to the amended complaint on the ground that it failed to state a cause of action, and claimed ambiguity and uncertainty. He also filed a motion to strike parts of the complaint. The motion to strike and the special demurrer were not ruled on by the trial court. The general demurrer was sustained in the following words:

“It Is Hereby Ordered that the defendant Lott’s Demurrer To Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint be, and the same hereby is, sustained without leave to plaintiff to amend his complaint.”

Appellant contends that respondent was prohibited from arresting him in the night time for an offense committed in the officer’s presence not amounting to a breach of the peace or a felony, and in his brief states the question for decision in the following words:

“The principal, chief question presented on this appeal is whether or not an officer may arrest for a misdemeanor committed in his presence, when such misdemeanor does not amount to a breach of the peace * *

The respondent submits the same proposition:

“ * * * the fundamental problem presented by the case may be properly set up as follows:
“ ‘May a state highway patrol officer, possessing all the powers of a sheriff, .arrest a person for a traffic violation committed in his presence at nighttime without a warrant, or is he powerless to enforce the traffic laws until he can find a magistrate, or the sun arises, whichever is earlier ?’

Sec. 19-603, I.C. provides:

“A peace officer may make an arrest in obedience to a warrant delivered to him, or may, without a warrant, arrest a person:
“1. For a public offense committed or attempted in his presence.
“2 *■ * *
«3_ * * *
“4. *. * *
“5. At night, when there is reasonable cause to believe that he has committed a felony.”

Sec. 19-607, I.C. reads as follows:

“If the offense charged is a felony, the arrest may be made on any day, and at any time of the day or night. If it is a misdemeanor the arrest can not be made at night, unless upon the direction of the magistrate, indorsed upon the warrant.”

The defendant Lott, as a state highway patrolman, has the power and duty to enforce all of the penal and regulatory laws of the state; and prevent and detect crime and apprehend criminals and maintain order; and to require all persons using the highways in the state to do so carefully, safely, and with exercise of care for the person, property and safety of others. In *208 the performance of this duty, a highway patrolman may arrest without warrant any person committing or attempting to commit in his presence or view a breach of tire peace, or any other violation of any of the lazos of the state. Sec. 19-4804, I.C.

In cases su'ch as this, unless there be power to arrest presently upon knowledge of the offense, the purpose of the statute requiring all persons using the highways to drive carefully, safely, and with exercise of care for the person, property and safety of others, would be entirely defeated. If an officer, on seeing an offense committed, were required to go before a justice of the peace, or other' magistrate, and obtain a warrant, or wait for the sun to rise, the offender could in the meantime be without the jurisdiction, or in parts unknown, and the purpose and objective of the statute would be circumvented.

An officer so restrained might as well be at home. Law violators would, during the night time, be permitted to violate the law with impunity.' An officer would be helpless to perform a mandatory duty.

Such is not a reasonable interpretation of the statute. If a complaint is laid before a magistrate charging a person with a misdemeanor, and the officer is acting pursuant to a warrant, if the arrest is made at night, it should be so directed on the warrant.

This section, Sec. 19-607, I.C., defining, in certain cases, the time that an arrest may be made, has no application to offenses committed in the officer’s presence, which of necessity must be immediately acted on.

Further Sec. 19-603, I.C., supra, must be construed in pari materia with Sec. 19-4804, I.C. which was enacted subsequent to Sec. 19-603, I.C.

Paragraph i of this section, 19-4804, I.C. grants authority to:

“arrest without warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit in their presence or view a breach of the peace or any other violation of any of the laws of the state;”

and does not limit the officer in making the arrest to any particular time of the day.

... . . A similar provision of the California Codes, Sec. 836, Deering Penal Code of California 1941, has been interpreted as authorizing an officer to make an arrest in the night time for any misdemeanor committed in the presence of the officer. See People v. Craig, 152 Cal. 42, 91 P. 997; 3 Cal.Jur. 117, Sec. 4.

Whether or not the respondent officer would have had the right under the common law7 to arrest appellant under the circumstances presented, is unnecessary to- determine for the reason the right to arrest a law violator has been enlarged by the statutes of this and many other states. Further, the rule of the common law prohibiting arrest in the night time except for breach of the peace and some other designated offenses is inimical to modern and present conditions.

*209 We therefore conclude that the respondent had a right and a duty to arrest the appellant in the night time for an offense committed in his presence even though the offense did not amount to a breach of the peace or felony.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
249 P.2d 803, 73 Idaho 205, 1952 Ida. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-lott-idaho-1952.