6 Wend. 438 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1831
By the Court,
The question is presented whether enough is set forth to shew that the justice had jurisdiction of the cause. The only allegations going to shew jurisdiction are, the fact that judgment was rendered in an action of debt, and the averment that the justice had jurisdiction.
The rule is supposed to be well setled, ever since the case of Ladbroke v. James, Willes, 199, that in pleading the proceedings of inferior courts or jurisdictions, it is not sufficient for the party to aver that such court bad jurisdiction, but the facts must be stated which are necessary to confer jurisdiction. In that case the defendant pleaded a discharge by a court of quarter sessions, saying he was duly discharged from his imprisonment aforesaid; but it was not stated that he had ever surrendered himself, or was ever in prison; and as this was a fact necessary to give the sessions jurisdiction, the plea was held to be defective. In Sollers v. Lawrence, Willes, 416, the language of the court, in speaking of courts of limited jurisdiction, is this: “ The rule is that nothing must be intended in favor of their jurisdiction, but that it must appear, by what is set forth on the record, that they had such juris
Judgment for plaintiff on demurrer, with leave to defendant to amend, on payment of costs.