Smith v. Ege
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland county. This was an action, commenced February 25th 1862, by William Smith against Peter F. Ege, for maliciously charging him with a felony, and causing him to be imprisoned and kept in prison for seven days, when on hearing he was discharged from custody by the justice, he having found “ no probable cause.”
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland county. This was an action, commenced February 25th 1862, by William Smith against Peter F. Ege, for maliciously charging him with a felony, and causing him to be imprisoned and kept in prison for seven days, when on hearing he was discharged from custody by the justice, he having found “ no probable cause.” In January, 1862, an old man and a boy living with him in a cabin were murdered, and the cabin was burned.' The old man had formerly worked for Ege, and was well known to him. Ege employed detectives, who visited the vicinity of the crime,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, May 24th 1866, by
Strong, J.
Though there are four assignments of error, they present but one question. It is whether, if the evidence submitted to the jury was believed, probable cause for the prosecution against the plaintiff had been shown. As he had been discharged by the examining magistrate, the-burden of showing affirmatively that there was probable cause rested upon the defendant, and the Court of Common Pleas was of opinion that he had given sufficient evidence to establish it. There is always a presumption in favour of the correctness of the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Munns v. De NemoursU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania · 1811
3Cited by24 opinions
- Altman v. Standard Refrig. Co., Inc.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1934
- Montgomery v. DennisonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1949
- Taylor v. American International Shipbuilding Corp.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1922
- Commonwealth v. SwallowSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1898
- Cooper v. William R. Hart & Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1892
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