Luther v. Borden

During a Rhode Island insurrection seeking to replace the state's longstanding charter government with a new popularly ratified constitution, Luther (plaintiff) claimed to represent this new, self-proclaimed government, while the charter government declared martial law and its militia members (defendants) broke into his house to arrest him; Luther sued for trespass, arguing the charter government had been legitimately replaced and thus had no authority to authorize the arrest, but the circuit court held the charter government remained in effect.