Bad Elk v. United States
Bad Elk v. United States, 177 U.S. 529 (1900), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that an individual had the right to use force to resist an unlawful arrest and was entitled to a jury instruction to that effect.
| Bad Elk v. United States | |
|---|---|
Supreme Court of the United States | |
| Argued February 26, 1900 Decided April 30, 1900 | |
| Full case name | John Bad Elk v. United States |
| Citations | 177 U.S. 529 (more) 20 S. Ct. 729; 44 L. Ed. 874; 1900 U.S. LEXIS 1823 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | United States v. Bad Elk (C.C.D.S.D. 1899) (unreported) |
| Holding | |
| Held that an individual had the right to use force to resist an unlawful arrest and was entitled to a jury instruction to that effect. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Peckham, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| Common law: Self-defense | |
In 1899, a tribal police officer, John Bad Elk, shot and killed another tribal police officer who was attempting to arrest Bad Elk without a warrant, on a misdemeanor charge, for a crime allegedly committed outside of the presence of the arresting officer. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction, noting that a person had the right to resist an unlawful arrest, and in the case of a death, murder may be reduced to manslaughter. The Supreme Court held the arrest to be unlawful due, in part, to the lack of a valid warrant.
This case has been widely cited on the internet, but is no longer considered good law in a growing number of jurisdictions. Most states have, either by statute or by case law, removed the unlawful arrest defense for resisting arrest.