False imprisonment
simply means the unlawful confinement or restraint of a person without legal authority or justification. When a person intentionally restricts the freedom of another person,(s)he can be found liable for false imprisonment in both civil and criminal court.
Elements Of False Imprisonment
- Knowledge of the Claimant:
False imprisonment can occur whether or not the claimant was aware of it at the time it occurred. According to Lord Atkin, “A person can be imprisoned while he is asleep, in the case of drunkenness, while unconscious or while he is a lunatic”. - The Character of the Act:
There must be total or complete restraint such that there is no means of escape. If there is a reasonable means of escape, it cannot amount to false imprisonment; Meering vs Grahame White Aviation Company Ltd.
To qualify for false imprisonment, the area of confinement should be one that has been fixed by the defendant and there is no reasonable way of escape. See Bird vs Jones.
- The State of Mind of the Defendant:
This means that to prove false imprisonment, the defendant must intend to do the act which resulted in false imprisonment. However, if a person is imprisoned even with a good intentions, there would still be liability for false imprisonment.