vexatious suits

1 definition found

vexatious suits - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  VEXATIOUS SUITS, torts. A vexatictus suit is one which has been instituted 
  maliciously, and without probable cause, whereby a damage has ensued to the 
  defendant. 
       2. The suit is either a criminal prosecution, a conviction before a 
  magistrate, or a civil action. The suit need not be altogether without 
  foundation; if the part which is groundless has subjected the party to an 
  inconvenience, to which he would not have been exposed had the valid cause 
  of complaint alone have been insisted on, it is injurious. 4 Taunt. 616; 4 
  Rep. 14 1 Pet. C. C. Rep. 210; 4 Serg. & Rawle, 19, 23. 
       3. To make it vexatious, the suit must have been instituted 
  maliciously. As malice is not in any case of injurious conduct necessarily 
  to be inferred from the total absence of probable cause for exciting it, and 
  in the present instance the law will not allow it to be inferred from that 
  circumstance, for fear of being mistaken, it casts upon the suffering party 
  the onus of proving express malice. 2 Wils. R. 307; 2 Bos. & Pull. 129; 
  Carth. 417; but see what Gibbs, C. J., says in Berley v. Bethune, 5, Taunt. 
  583; see also 1 Pet. C. C. R. 210; 2 Browne's R. Appx. 42, 49; Add. R. 270. 
       4. It is necessary that the prosecution should have been carried on 
  without probable cause. The law presumes that probable cause existed until 
  the party aggrieved can show to the contrary. Hence he is bound to show the 
  total absence of probable cause. 5 Taunt. 580; 1 Campb. R. 199. See 3 Dow. 
  Rep. 160; 1 T. Rep. 520; Bul. N. P. 14; 4 Burr. 1974; 2 Bar. & C. 693; 4 
  Dow. & R. 107; 1 Car. R. 138, 204; 1 Gow, Rep. 20; 1 Wils. 232; Cro. Jac. 
  194. He is also under the same obligation when the original proceeding was a 
  civil action. 2 Wils. 307. 
       5. The damage which the party injured sustains from a vexatious suit 
  for a crime, is either to his person, his reputation, his estate or his 
  relative rights. 1. whenever imprisonment is occasioned by a malicious 
  unfounded criminal prosecution, the injury is complete, although the 
  detention may have been momentary, and the party released on bail. Carth. 
  416. 2. When the bill of indictment contains scandalous aspersions likely to 
  impair the reputation of the accused, the damage is complete. See 12 Mod. 
  210; 2 B. & A. 494; 3 Dow., & R. 669. 3. Notwithstanding his person is left 
  at liberty, and his character is unstained by the proceedings, (as where the 
  indictment is for a trespass, Carth. 416,) yet if he necessarily incurs 
  expense in defending himself against the charge, he has a right to have his 
  losses made good. 10 Mod. 148,; Id. 214; Gilb. 185; S. C. Str. 978. 4. If a 
  master loses the services and assistance of his domestics, in consequence of 
  a vexatious suit, he may claim a compensation. Ham. N. P. 275. With regard 
  to a damage resulting from a civil action, when prosecuted in a court of 
  competent jurisdiction, the only detriment the party can sustain, is the 
  imprisonment of his person, or the seizure of his property, for as to any 
  expense, he may be put to, this, in contemplation of law, has been fully 
  compensated to him by the costs adjudged. 4 Taunt. 7; 2 Mod. 306; 1 Mod. 4. 
  But where the original suit was coram non judice, the party as the law 
  formerly stood, necessarily incurred expense without the power of 
  remuneration, unless by this action, because any award of costs the court 
  might make would have been a nullity. However, by a late decision such an 
  adjudication was holden unimpeachable, land that the party might well have 
  an action of debt to recover the amount. 1 Wils. 316. So that the law, in 
  this respect, seems to have taken a new turn, and, perhaps, it would now be 
  decided, that no action can under any other circumstances but imprisonment 
  of the person or seizure of the property, be maintained for suing in an 
  improper court. Vide Carth. 189. 
       See, in general, Bac. Abr. Action on the case, H; Vin. Abr. Actions, H 
  c; Com. Dig. Action upon the case upon deceit; 5 Amer. Law Journ. 514; Yelv. 
  105, a note 2; Bull. N. P. 13; 3 Selw. N. P. 535; Notes on Co. Litt. 161, a, 
  (Day's edit.); 1 Saund. 230, n. 4; 3 Bl. Com. 126, n. 21, (Chit. edit.); 
  this Dict. tit. Malicious Prosecution.