The Tennessee Law of Arrest

The many sections in the Tennessee Code' dealing with arrest constitute an incomplete codification of the common law of this subject modified by some important changes. This statutory material leaves the common law in full force wherever it is either silent on the particular point or merely restates the preexisting rule. Those sections which produce results different from those found under the unwritten law leave the latter in the realm of matters having historical interest only, as far as the law of this state is concerned. The purpose of this undertaking is to depict the present law of Tennessee on arrest.

Hence the common law will be emphasized wherever it has not been changed by our statutes but will receive relatively little attention where it has been superseded by legislative enactment. References to statutes of other jurisdictions will be made when useful, without attempting to explain all of the different types of statute to be found in the various states on certain points.