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81 Ill. App. 208

Knecht v. Lehr

Appellate Court of Illinois

Decided March 10, 1899

Appellate Court of Illinois · decided 1899-03-10

<p>1. Malicious Prosecution—End of the Prosecution Must he Shown. —Proof of the termination of the prosecution is an essential prerequisite to a successful prosecution of a suit for a malicious prosecution.</p> <p>2. Same—Evidence of the End of the Prosecution.—Where the prosecution is before a justice of the peace, his docket is the best evidence and is admissible to prove the termination of the prosecution.</p>

Relies on Skidmore v. Bricker · Fadner v. Filer · Wilmerton v. Sample

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Reversed and remanded · Decided 1899-03-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently June 1968

2 federal appellate · 1 state decisions

1018991900191019201930194019501960decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Mr. Justice Worthington

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2There are three counts in the declaration. Counsel for a ppellee, in their brief, say that the first and second counts are for malicious prosecution, and the third count for false imprisonment. It is averred in the first count that appellant, with one Fruth, falsely and maliciously caused a warrant to be issued by Henry Sinn, a justice of the peace, under which appellee was arrested and brought before the justice; that from said justice he took a change of venue to J. R. Coulter, a justice of the peace; that before him a hearing was had and appellant was discharged, etc.

¶3This allegation required proof by competent evidence. Upon the trial of the present case, over the specific objection of appellant to the admission of oral testimony, appellee was allowed to testify as to the proceedings before the justice. This was error. The docket of the justice was the best evidence. It was admissible, not to prove that appellant was not guilty, but to prove the termination of the prosecution. This interpretation of the opinion in Skidmore v. Bricker, 77 Ill. 164, has been adopted in several instances, and we think it is correct. Comisky v. Breen, 7 Brad. 374; Fadner v. Filer, 27 Ill. App. 508; McGuire v. Goodman, 31 Ill. App. 420; Wilmerton v. Sample, 39 Ill. App. 68.

¶4For the error above noted, judgment is reversed and case remanded.

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