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47 Nw. U. L. Rev. 82 (1952-1953)
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handle is hein.journals/illlr47 and id is 102 raw text is: Comments The Protection and Recapture of Merchandise from Shoplifters* Probable Cause A LTHOUGH not widely retained in the United States, imprison- ment for debt is an old concept in Anglo-American law. Even in England, however, imprisonment for debt did not mean that the creditor could even momentarily imprison his debtor without process of law for the purpose of enforcing payment of a debt. Thus in the absence of a statute authorizing it, an English railroad, whose custom it was to collect passengers' tickets at the end of the journey rather than at the beginning, committed a trespass when it arrested a passenger who did not present his ticket at journey's end.- Neither could an inn-keeper detain a customer for non-payment of his bill, although he was permitted to retain personal property of the customer as security for the debt.2 Processless arrest is also forbidden in the United States. For the most part our railroads avoid the problem, however, by col- lecting tickets early in the journey, and it has always been held that they may reasonably eject passengers who fail to present a ticket or pay their fare to the conductor.3 But in 1873 a case arose in Massachusetts and in 1882 a similar case in New York which presented the problem faced by the English railroads. In the former case, Standish v. Narragansett Steamship Company,4 plaintiff lost his ticket while aboard defendant's boat, and defend- ant's agent refused to let him disembark when plaintiff failed to present his ticket or pay the fare. Plaintiff was detained for two hours. Subsequently he sued defendant for assault and battery and false imprisonment. In holding for plaintiff, the Massachu- setts court said that defendant had no right to detain plaintiff until he paid his fare or gave up his ticket; but if plaintiff knew he was to give up his ticket before leaving the boat, defendant had a right, if he did not give it up or pay his fare, to detain him for a reasonable time to investigate on the spot the circumstances of his case. If defendant detained him to compel him to pay, or for the purpose of investigating his case for an unreasonable time, or in an unreasonable way, plaintiff could recover. The New York Court of Appeals followed this decision in the later case.5 The significance of these cases lies not in the holding, but in the * Continued from Last Issue. 1. Chilton v. The London and Croydon Ry., 16 M. & W. 212 (1847). 2. Sunbolf v. Alford, 3 M. & W. 248 (1838). 3. Hibbard v. N.Y. and Erie R.R., 15 N.Y. 455 (1857). 4. 111 Mass. 512, 15 Am.Rep. 66 (1873). 5. Lynch v. Metropolitan Elevated Ry., 90 N.Y. 77, 43 Am.Rep. 141 (1882).

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