10 S.E.2d 114 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1940
1. The "Jack Jones" form for a trover suit, given in the act of the legislature (Ga. L. 1847, p. 203, sec. 2), is, by the will of the legislature, sufficient in all cases within the provisions of the sections of this act, and no additional averments are necessary. The practitioner pursuing this simplified form should not, by demurrer, be forced into using a repetitious, circumlocutionary, and verbose common-law form of pleading.
2. In a trover suit, if the description of the property is altogether general, as for example, "one horse," and there is nothing in the description by which the thing attempted to be described can be separated from the general mass of similar articles, the requirement of the law is not met; however, if the horse is described as "one bay horse bought from a *856 named person," this presents an entirely different aspect of the matter which is sufficient. Therefore a description "650 sticks of tobacco" would not be sufficient; but where the description of "650 flue-cured sticks of tobacco" singles them out from the altogether general mass of sticks of tobacco, and limits the range of parol evidence to the identity of those 650 sticks of tobacco, which are described as "being in weight about eight hundred (800) pounds of cured tobacco, of the value of two hundred and forty ($240) dollars; said described tobacco being part of the same that was planted, grown, gathered, and cured by W. L. Crews as a share-cropper of I. J. Roberson on said I. J. Roberson's farm in Wayne County, Georgia, during the year 1939," this description is sufficient; and if necessary, parol evidence would be admissible to show that these particular articles are included within the words of the description.
The defendant demurred on the grounds that the petition set forth no cause of action against him, and that there was no such legal description of the property as to put him on notice of what property was claimed by plaintiff. The judge overruled the demurrer, and the defendant excepted.
1. In 1847 (Ga. L. 1847, p. 203) the legislature enacted into law a bill introduced by John A. Jones, a member of the legislature *857
from Paulding County, "to simplify and curtail pleadings at law." This act gave six forms which forms are sufficient writs or complaints in all cases within the provisions of the act.Cameron v. Moore,
The declaration in the instant case pursues the form prescribed by the statute of 1847, section 2, and is sufficient. No additional averments are necessary to let in the proof necessary to a recovery. Hotchkiss v. Newton,
It is evident that, in the nature of things, the end of pleading which should be obtained is the production of one or more points of issue where a single fact is affirmed by one party and denied by the other. At common law, beginning with the plaintiff, the parties alternately presented the statements of their contentions under distinct names, to wit, the plaintiff's declaration, the defendant's plea, the plaintiff's replication, the defendant's rejoinder, the plaintiff's surrejoinder, the defendant's rebutter, and the plaintiff's surrebutter; after which they had no distinctive names. Theoretically the function of each of these was to narrow the field of controversy until there evolved a single point, affirmed on one side and denied on the other, called the issue, upon which the parties were to go to trial. The object was to develop the real issue. When the "Jack Jones" form of declaration or petition is used in a suit for personal property (trover), it does not set forth evidentiary facts as to how, where, and when the plaintiff obtained title, but merely sets forth the legal effect of the preliminary evidentiary facts which is the ultimate fact (the real issue in the case), namely, that the plaintiff claims title to certain described personal property, and that the defendant is in possession thereof and refuses to deliver the property to the petitioner. It is a simple, direct statement of the ultimate fact which is determinative of the whole case, and by the will of the legislature, as expressed by the Jack Jones act of 1847, this is sufficient. "The plaintiff is not obliged to spread out his proof upon the record." Gilmer v. Allen,
The defendant contends, that "that form [Gober's Form Book, 766] was suggested for use in the usual trover action, and not intended for use where the relation of the parties is shown to be that of landlord and cropper;" and that, there being "no allegation that the share-cropper had sold any of the crop without the landlord's consent, nor an allegation of any conversion whatsoever," the petition is fatally defective. It should be noted that "Whenever the relation of landlord and cropper shall exist, the title to and the *859
right to control and possess the crops grown and raised upon the lands of the landlord by the cropper shall be vested in the landlord until he shall have received his part of the crops so raised and shall have been fully paid for all advances made to the cropper in the year said crops were raised to aid in making said crops." Code, § 61-502. "In all cases where a cropper shall unlawfully sell or otherwise dispose of any part of a crop, or where the cropper shall seek to take possession of such crops, or to exclude the landlord from the possession of said crops, while the title thereto remains in the landlord, the landlord shall have the right to repossess said crops by possessory warrant or by any other process of law by which the owner of property can recover it under the laws of this State." § 61-503. "Where the relation of landlord and cropper exists, the title to the crop vests in the landlord, and may be asserted by trover. In such a case the jury may find a verdict awarding the possession of the property in dispute to the plaintiff, and subjecting him to the prior payment of an indebtedness due by him to the defendant."Cowart v. Dees,
2. Judge Lamar, in A. S. Thomas Furniture Co. v. T. C.Furniture Co.,
Judgment affirmed. Broyles, C. J., and Guerry, J., concur.