Encarwagao v, Sre1Pcixo. said he regretted that there shoul mi have been His Hoxovr, before delivering judgment,
much delay, which was due to circumstances beyond his control. He hoped that the delay had not inconvenienced anybody.
Judgment, The plaintiff, 2 Portuguese, sues the defendant, the Acting Saperinrenteny of Police to the Municipality, for the recovery of a the property of the plaintiff, plain-
mits the detention, but pleads in the first the defendant, The defendant ad-instance that under the 26th Land Regulation no action can be brought against him; and in the next place, if this should be decided against him, that his detention of the defendant's the Mixed Courty and. that therefore.
property was under the direction of
discharged from lability.
am against him on both contentions, tectshimonly "ifthe matter or thing were done As tothe first, the 26th Land Regulation pro-
"bona fide for the purpose of executing there Regulations." Now the Regulation, or rather Bye-law, under which the act complained of was done, is the 38th, which authorizes any officer of the Council "to seize or detain any person who shall have committed any offence against the provisions of these Bye-laws, and whose name and residence shall be unknown to such officer, and convey him with all convenient despatch before his proper Consul." Here the authority stops: there is nor given to impound a person rty, ence in so far as it is impliedly given in the power to arrest a person who may have, at the time of arrest, property in his possession or under his control. In this way, and in this way only, if the coolie drawing the plaintiff's car-ringe were properly arrested, the plaintiff's carriage was rightly seized, and "could trave been properly detained until he made application for its restoration to him. But alter such application, the defendant was bound to deliver it to him. Nothing in the ulations or Bye-laws justified his detention of it after demand made, and consequently, in continuing to detain it, he was not execu ting the Regulations" at' all, and he fore not protected by the 26th Regalation But he relies, in the second place, on cumstances that for the detention of the car-ringe he had an authorization from the Mixed Court. The order made by that tribunal was that the carriage should be detained till the decision of the Portuguese Consul (before against the plaintf,—as was done, but not til whom it suggested proceedings should be taken days after the suggestion was made) should be known. This order appears to me to have been a clear excess of jurisdiction. The Mixed Court had no more authority to detain a Mortuguese subject's property than it could have had to arrest or imprison or otherwise punish the owner. That it conceived it had no such authority is manifest from its own order, which points out the proper tribunal. 'The defendant, therefore, cannot be allowed to set up this defence. He knew, if not before the decision of the Mixed' Court, certainly immediately such decision was given, what tribunal alone could properly make such an order as he acted under, and he should have applied for the necessary order (which it does not at all follow he would have got) from that tribunal. is second ground of defence thus also fai The plaintiff must therefore have judgment for the delivery of his carriage to him. On the subject of damages—if damages are still claimed—I wish only to say that while I am willing to allow in this action (which was stated to be a representative one) the sum claimed ($4), no objection having been made by the defendant to the amount, I donot desire to be understood as fixing this sum as the true measure of damages in respect of each of the remainder of the carriages. I should require good deal more evidence on this point before assessed the damages in the whole matter.
have no doubt, however, that the parties (if the defendant acquiesces in this decision) will lieable to agree between themselves.as to what isa fair compensation—otherwise the plain tiff must bring an action for the total damages he claims.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.