Section 88 - Definition of, and provisions relating to, imprisonment

(1) A person imprisons another person if, intentionally and without the other person’s consent, that person detains the other person in a particular place, of whatever extent or character and whether enclosed or not, or compels the other person to move to or be carried in a particular direction.

(2) The application of subsection (1) is subject to the following provision, namely, that the detention or compulsion may be constituted, within the meaning of this section,

(a) by force or by a physical obstruction to a person’s escape, or

(b) by creating the belief that the other person cannot depart from a place, or refuse to move or be carried in a particular direction, without overcoming force or incurring danger or harm, pain or annoyance, or

(c) by creating the belief that the other person is under legal arrest, or

(d) by creating the belief to the other person of immediate imprisonment if the other person does not consent to do, or to abstain from doing, an act.

Illustrations

1. A detains B on board a ship. Here, A imprisons, B although B is let free within the ship; and, if B was prevented from leaving the ship until she sailed, B, is imprisoned so long as B necessarily or reasonably continues on board the ship, even though during a part of the time B would have been free if there had been a means of leaving;

2. A, by falsely pretending that B is under arrest, prevents B from leaving B’s own house. Here, A imprisons B.