40 Minn. 413 | Minn. | 1889
This is an action to recover damages for an alleged malicious criminal prosecution instituted by these defendants against the plaintiff. The latter secured a verdict, and from an order refusing a new trial the defendants appeal. As we. regard the case, the only question which we need review is the soundness of that portion of the charge to the jury wherein the court stated that no cause for the arrest and prosecution complained of by this plaintiff had been shown, and that, as a matter of law, there was a want of probable cause for the-arrest and prosecution. There is little or no dispute about the facts here. One of the defendants was a justice of the peace for Wilkin county; another, a constable in said county, as well as a member of the village council of Eothsay, a village which had organized and acted in common with many others, under the pro
There being no controversy over the facts, it was for the court to declare whether probable cause existed; that is, whether the defendants had “a reasonable ground of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in the belief that the person accused is guilty of the offence with which he is charged.” Cole v. Curtis, 16 Minn.161,(182;) Casey v. Sevatson, 30 Minn. 516, (16 N. W. Rep. 407;) Burton v. St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co., 33 Minn. 189, (22 N. W. Rep. 300.) The defendants, in a case where there was no doubt of the guilt of the accused if the ordinance was enforceable, took the precaution to submit that question to the attorney general for his opinion, and thereafter acted in strict accordance with his views, under his instructions, and in good faith. There was no want of probable cause, and the court erred in so holding.
Order reversed.