Foshay v. Ferguson
New York Supreme Court
A.ction for a malicious prosecution, tried before Ruggles, C. Judge, at the Westchester circuit, in November, 1843. The defendant had charged the plaintiff with stealing two of the defendant’s yearling cattle, for which the plaintiff was indicted in Oneida county, in December, 1840; and he was tried and acquitted in March following. The leading features of the case, so far as they were known to the defendant at the time he went before the grand jury, were as follows.
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A.ction for a malicious prosecution, tried before Ruggles, C. Judge, at the Westchester circuit, in November, 1843. The defendant had charged the plaintiff with stealing two of the defendant’s yearling cattle, for which the plaintiff was indicted in Oneida county, in December, 1840; and he was tried and acquitted in March following. The leading features of the case, so far as they were known to the defendant at the time he went before the grand jury, were as follows. The defendant lived in Herkimer county. He owned a farm in Oneida county north of Rome, where he kept cattle,'under the charge…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Coitrt, Bronson, Ch. J.
There was evidence enough in the case to warrant the jury in finding, that the defendant set the prosecution in motion from a bad motive. But all the books agree, that proof of express malice is not enough, without showing also the want of probable cause.' Probable cause has been! defined, a reasonable ground of suspicion, supported by circum-j stances 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. (Munns v. Nemours, 3 Wash. C. C. 37.) However innocent the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Seibert v. PriceSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1843
3Cited by39 opinions
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- Vinal v. CoreWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1881
- Harpham v. WhitneyIllinois Supreme Court · 1875
- Hicks v. BrantleySupreme Court of Georgia · 1897
- Heyne v. . BlairNew York Court of Appeals · 1875
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