Wood (P) purchased a ticket granting him a license to watch a horse race being conducted by Lord Eglintoun. P then entered and watched the races. Eglintoun decided, for some reason, that P should be asked to leave immediately. Leadbitter (D), a servant of Eglintoun, forcibly ousted P after notice was first given to leave. P sued D for trespass for assault and false imprisonment. P testified he was in a certain close of the Earl of Eglintoun, and that D, as the servant of Lord Eglintoun, and by his command, gently laid his hands upon P, in order to remove him from the said close, using no unnecessary violence in so doing. P was told that if he did not leave, force would be used. D took him by the arm and forced him out, using no unnecessary violence. The trial court instructed the jury that the only remedy open to an ousted ticket holder-in law at least-no excessive violence1 having been used is to sue for breach of the contract. The jury gave the verdict to D, and P appealed.

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