Christianson and Bronson, JJ., concur.
Robinson, C. J. (concurring specially). On a pleasant summer day in June, 1919, at the city of Enderlin, the plaintiff and his wife were gently arrested by the chief of police because they insisted on keeping a $15 tent which did not belong to them. The chief took them gently into his automobile, took them to the chief magistrate, and then, for safekeeping, put them in the city jail while he made a complaint and obtained a warrant against them for bad conduct and for obstructing him in the removal of the tent. The chief served the warrant, and in a few hours both parties were brought before the magistrate and were released. She, on her promise to return; he, on a deposit of a check for $75. On a demurrer the complaint was held bad and they were both discharged. Then, for the arrest and imprisonment, she brought an action to recover $10,000; he, an action for $5,000. The jury awarded her $4,000 against three defendants and awarded him $1,200 against the magistrate and the chief of police. Some people are so liberal with the money of others. In each case the verdict was for about 100 times the actual damages. However, it is said the verdict is not so excessive as to shock the conscience; but, as I think, that can only be true where there is little or no conscience to be shocked. And what shall we say of the excessive damages claimed in the verified complaint, which were known to be untrue, and of the lawyer who subscribed to or verified such complaints? The duty of the lawyer and the courts is to prevent one party from robbing another through the forms and technicalities and the chicanery of the law, and to see that every suit is commenced and conducted in an honorable and professional manner.
By statute every person who suffers detriment from the unlawful act or omission of another may recover from the person at fault a compensation in money, which is called damages. § 7139. In an action for the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, when a defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice, the jury may give damages for the sake of example by way of punishing him. § 7145. That is called exemplary or punitory damages. Damages must in all cases be reasonable and not unconscionable or grossly oppressive. § 7183.
Regardless of fine-spun theories, defendant Harper had a perfect right to take the tent without paying $15 as the expense of a lawsuit. He had a right to take it by his drayman under the protection of the chief of
