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This tort requires a specific area of confinement. An inconvenience or a detour is enough if it is extreme. No means of escape is available, meaning that one is not known or is unreasonable.
The gist of the common law tort is conduct by the actor which is intended to, and does in fact, 'confine' another 'within boundaries fixed by the actor' where, in addition, the victim is either 'conscious of the confinement or is harmed by it.' Restatement (Second), Torts § 35 (1965). See Knowlton v. Ross, 114 Me. 18, 95 A. 281 (Me. 1915); Whittaker v. Sanford, 110 Me. 77, 85 A. 399 (Me. 1912). While 'confinement' can be imposed by physical barriers or physical force, much less will do--although how much less becomes cloudy at the margins. It is generally settled that mere threats of physical force can suffice, Restatement, supra, § 40; and it is also settled that the threats may be implicit as well as explicit, see id. cmt. a; 32 Am. Jur. 2d False Imprisonment § 18 (1995) (collecting cases), and that confinement can also be based on a false assertion of legal authority to confine. Restatement, supra, § 41. Indeed, ...
