Also known as: physical restraints · physically restrain · physically restrained · physically restraining · bodily restraint
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An act that confines another within fixed boundaries through direct physical means such as barriers or bodily force. The confinement supports liability for false imprisonment when the victim knows of it or suffers harm from it.
Preston Pratt escorted Phoebe Park into a side corridor during a protest and lowered metal security gates at both ends. Phoebe remained unaware that the gates blocked her exit because she was absorbed in her phone and suffered no harm. Under the governing rule there is no liability for the intentional confinement because Phoebe neither knew of it nor was harmed by it.
Paul Peterson was stopped by officers who placed hands on his arms and prevented him from walking away while they investigated a suspected package. The brief physical contact constituted a seizure that required reasonable suspicion from the outset. The restraint supplied the basis for analyzing whether the stop remained within constitutional limits.
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Paige Porter and her accomplice tied a bank teller's hands during a robbery and held the teller in place while taking cash. The physical restraint of the teller triggered a two-level sentencing increase under the applicable guideline. The court applied the enhancement because the restraint went beyond the force inherent in the robbery itself.
Priscilla Parks challenged a state regulation that limited her ability to direct her child's education. The Court recognized that the liberty protected by due process extends beyond freedom from physical restraint to include parental rights. The regulation therefore received heightened scrutiny even though no bodily confinement occurred.
Pearl Porter sought a declaration that the state ban on physician-assisted suicide violated her liberty interest. The Court held that the Due Process Clause protects more than freedom from physical restraint yet declined to recognize a fundamental right to assistance in ending life. The absence of a tradition supporting the claimed right defeated the constitutional challenge.
Pulse Media employee Preston Pratt was taken to the station without probable cause and held for questioning. The physical restraint and removal from the street amounted to an arrest that required probable cause. Because the officers lacked that justification the detention violated the Fourth Amendment.
No. The defendant need only intend to confine the plaintiff and cause confinement by any effective means, including physical barriers or orders carried out by others. Direct bodily contact is not required.
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No. The tort protects freedom of movement. Awareness of the confinement or any resulting harm is sufficient. Bodily injury is not an element.
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When the defendant knowingly restrains the victim during the commission of the felony and death occurs in the course of that felony, the intent to commit the felony supplies implied malice even if the precise mechanism of death was accidental.
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…of liberty protected by the Due Process Clause. The liberty guaranteed by the Due Process Clause is not limited to freedom from bodily restraint. It is a broad concept that includes the right to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a…