A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval Britain and the English common law, in which sheriffs encouraged ordinary citizens to help apprehend law breakers.
Despite the practice's name, in most countries, the arresting person is usually designated as a person with arrest powers, who need not be a citizen of the jurisdiction or country in which he or she is acting. For example, in England/Wales, the power comes from Section 24a Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, called "any person arrest". This legislation states "any person" has these powers, and does not state that they need to be a citizen of England or Wales.
Read more about Citizen's Arrest: Legal and Political Aspect
Famous quotes containing the words citizen and/or arrest:
“... any citizen should be willing to give all that he has to give his country in work or sacrifice in times of crisis.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Let me arrest thy thoughts; wonder with me,
Why plowing, building, ruling and the rest,
Or most of those arts, whence our lives are blest,
By cursed Cain’s race invented be,
And blest Seth vexed us with Astronomie.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)