Cook v. Mayor of Macon
Supreme Court of Georgia
Municipal corporations. Damages. Officers. Before Judge PIill. Bibb Superior Court. April Adjourned Term, 1874. Cook brought case against the Mayor and Council of the City of Macon for $20,000 00 damages, alleged to have been sustained by reason of his illegal arrest by a police officer of said city. The defendant pleaded the general issue.
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Municipal corporations. Damages. Officers. Before Judge PIill. Bibb Superior Court. April Adjourned Term, 1874. Cook brought case against the Mayor and Council of the City of Macon for $20,000 00 damages, alleged to have been sustained by reason of his illegal arrest by a police officer of said city. The defendant pleaded the general issue. A verdict was returned for the plaintiff for $500 00. The defendant moved for a new trial because the verdict was illegal, in this, that a police officer appointed by a city is not its agent or servant so as to render it responsible for his unlawful and…
1Opinion of the Court
McCay, Judge.
Whilst it must be admitted that the authorities on the subject of how far and under what circumstances a municipal corporation is liable for the acts of its agents, are not uniform *469or satisfactory, yet we think it will be found that the current of the authorities is almost- uniform that it is not liable for a trespass or assault by a police officer. If he has authority to arrest, then nobody is liable,’ if he has not, then he is acting wilfully on his own responsibility, and in such cases the rule of respondeat superior does not apply. But the authorities place this kind of a…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Altvater v. Mayor of BaltimoreCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1869
3Cited by20 opinions
- McIlhenney v. City of WilmingtonSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1900
- Mayor of Savannah v. JordanSupreme Court of Georgia · 1914
- Gray v. Mayor of GriffinSupreme Court of Georgia · 1900
- McDay v. City of AtlantaCourt of Appeals of Georgia · 1992
- Simon v. City of AtlantaSupreme Court of Georgia · 1881
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