Scottish Court of Session Decisions

David Thomson, fisherman in Pulteneytown, near Wick, sued Thomas Adam, joint agent at Wick for the Aberdeen Town and County Bank, for damages in respect of wrongful apprehension on a charge of theft. It was averred that on 17th October 1864 the pursuer had presented at the defender's bank a cheque for £80; that he received for the cheque four bank notes for £20 each; that shortly after he had gone home he was called on by the defender, who alleged that he had given him five notes instead of four; and that the defender thereafter gave information to the procurator-fiscal that the pursuer had stolen the £20, in consequence of which he was apprehended on that charge.

In the issue which the pursuer proposed for trial, he put the question whether the defender had wrongfully caused him to be apprehended. The defender objected that the issue ought to ask whether the apprehension had been caused maliciously and without probable cause.