2021 Question 3 — LawShortcut Independent Model Answer
Garda entry/arrest · False imprisonment · Battery
Scenario summary
In September 2015, two plain-clothes officers, Garda Black and Garda White, were watching a licensed pub called The Jar House while working undercover. They went in disguised as patrons and bought food and drink.
Spotting several elderly men at a card table, they jumped to the conclusion that unlawful gambling was taking place, when the men were in fact playing bridge. The officers informed the publican, Mr Grey, that he was under arrest for permitting illegal gambling. Black shoved him into the bar counter while White applied handcuffs, and the pair marched him outside and forced him into an unmarked patrol car.
He was freed only after the station sergeant noticed that the officers had entered The Jar House without any search warrant. Mr Grey has since been receiving psychiatric care.
Candidates are asked to advise Mr Grey on the tort causes of action open to him and the parties against whom they lie.
This is a LawShortcut scenario summary written in our own words. For the exact examined wording, use the official King’s Inns paper linked above.
What this model answer covers
Issues and structure addressed in the full LawShortcut model answer:
- 1. Entry into The Jar House — trespass to land
- 2. False imprisonment — the central claim
- 3. Battery — strong; assault — secondary
- 4. Against whom?
- Current-Law Note for 2026
- 5. Psychiatric injury and damages
Read the complete LawShortcut model answer to this question — reading the question, issue spotting, the applicable law, application to the facts and conclusions — inside the King’s Inns Tort Model Answer Vault.
Part of the King’s Inns Tort Model Answer Vault — 30 independently authored model answers, 2020—2025.