Jirku

This is an action against defendant for a malicious prosecution, for causing the arrest of the plaintiff upon a criminal charge. At the conclusion of all the testimony in the case, the court, without hearing argument on the evidence, and of its own motion, instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, which the jury did. Judgment was entered in favor of the defendant, and plaintiff appeals. The action of the court in instructing the jury to return a verdict for the defendant is the only error of which the appellant complains.

Plaintiff published and circulated a statement in the Bohemian language, in which he charged, among other things, that defendant did not speak the truth. The defendant thereupon made complaint before the clerk of the police court of the city of Los Angeles, charging plaintiff with having committed the crime of criminal libel. Plaintiff was arrested and imprisoned for a space of several hours, finally obtaining his release upon giving bail. After due trial in the police court of the city of Los Angeles, before a jury, plaintiff was acquitted of the charge and was not further prosecuted.

It appears without contradiction, from the record, that…