in English Law (from the French word arrêter, to stop or stay), is the restraint of a man's person, obliging him to be obedient to the law, and is defined to be the execution of the command of some court of record or office of justice. Arrests are either in civil or criminal cases. 1st, An arrest in a civil cause is defined to be the apprehending or restraining one's person by process, in execution of the command of some court. 2d, An arrest in a criminal cause is the apprehending or restraining one's person in order to be forthcoming to answer an alleged crime.
Arrests by private persons are in some cases commanded. Persons present at the committing of a felony must use their endeavours to apprehend the offender, under penalty of fine and imprisonment; and they are also, with the utmost diligence, to pursue and endeavour to take all those who shall be guilty thereof out of their view, upon a hue and cry levied against them. By the vagrant act, 17 Geo. II. cap. 5, every person may apprehend beggars and vagrants; and every private person is bound to assist an officer requiring him to apprehend a felon.
In some cases, likewise, arrests by private persons are rewarded by law. By the 4 and 5 William and Mary, cap. 8, persons apprehending highwaymen, and prosecuting them to conviction, are entitled to a reward of L.40; and if they are killed in the attempt, their executors, &c., are entitled to the like reward. By the 6 and 7 William III. cap. 17, persons apprehending counterfeiters and clippers of the coin, and prosecuting them to conviction, are entitled to L.40.
By 5 Anne, cap. 31, persons who shall take any one guilty of burglary, or the felonious breaking and entering any house in the daytime, and prosecute them to conviction, shall receive the sum of L.40, within one month after such conviction.
With regard to arrests by public officers, as watchmen, constables, &c., they are either made by their own authority, which differs but very little from the power of a private person; or they are made by a warrant from a justice of peace.