the state of a person restrained of his liberty, and detained under the custody of another.

No person is to be imprisoned but as the law directs, either by the command or order of a court of record, or by lawful warrant; or the king's process, on which one may be lawfully detained. Where the law gives power to imprison, in such case it is justifiable, provided he who does it in pursuance of a statute exactly pursues the statute in the manner of doing it; for otherwise it will be deemed false imprisonment, and consequently it is unjustifiable.

False IMPRISONMENT. Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or in the stocks, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets. Unlawful or false imprisonment consists in such confinement or detention without sufficient authority. False imprisonment also may arise by executing a lawful warrant or process at an unlawful time, as on a Sunday; or in a place privileged from arrests, as in the verge of the king's court. This is the injury. The remedy is of two sorts; the one removing the injury, the other making satisfaction for it.

IMPROPTU, or IMPROMPTU, a Latin word employed to signify a piece made off-hand, or extempore, without any previous meditation, by mere force and vivacity of imagination.