47 Conn. 316 | Conn. | 1879
The plaintiffs in this case are copartners, the firm consisting of Tilton E. Doolittle, Henry Stoddard and William L. Bennett. The action was brought in the firm name of Doolittle, Stoddard & Bennett, to the Court of Common Pleas for New Haven County. At the first term the defendants appeared and severally pleaded in abatement to the plaintiffs’ writ, on the ground that it was signed by Mr. Bennett, a member of the firm, who was a commissioner of the Superior Court for New Haven County, and that the writ was not otherwise signed. The plaintiffs demurred to this plea, and the only question in the case is, whether a plaintiff has the legal right to sign and issue a writ in his own case.
It would not seem to require any extended argument to show that this ought not to be allowed under the laws of this state. It is said by the plaintiffs that the signing of a writ under our statute is a mere ministerial act, and that there is therefore no valid objection to a plaintiff’s signing his own writ. We can not assent to this proposition. If it is within the letter it clearly is not within the spirit of our statute, nor in harmony with the principles of the common law, nor witli our ideas of common justice. It would be putting altogether too much power into the hands of one man, to be exercised for his own individual benefit, for if a plaintiff can sign his own writ in an ordinary action arising upon contract, he may sign it in an action arising from a tort, and without responsi
But it is said that there is authority for a party’s signing his own writ, and the case of Windham v. Hampton, 1 Root, 175, is cited as sustaining this proposition. The case is very brief. It appears that a plea in abatement was filed—1st, on the ground that the writ was signed by Zephaniah Swift, Esq., a justice of the peaco, who was an inhabitant of the town of Windham and one of the plaintiffs; 2d, that it was directed!; to and was served by James Flint as an indifferent person,, also an inhabitant of Windham and one of the plaintiffs;: and 3d, that said Flint had not made oath to the service. The-plea was held insufficient, and the court says:—“As to the-first two exceptions, the signing and serving of the writ are-merely ministerial acts, and if any irregularity is practiced advantage may be taken of it by pleading it. Besides, if members of corporations were wholly excluded from acts of this nature, there would be a failure of justice in many cases. As to the third exception, the law doth not require it, but if necessary it may be done after the writ is returned! by leave of the court.” This is the whole case. The action being upon an insimul computassent in favor of one town against another, the writ was unquestionably a simple summons. The magistrate was an inhabitant of the plaintiff town and as such was a nominal party, but not the real party plaintiff. He had a nominal interest in the event of the suit, and such an interest as would have disqualified him from acting judicially in hearing the case, but not such an interest, according to the opinion of the court, as to disqualify him from perform
We cannot think that the framers of the statute ever contemplated that any such interpretation could be put upon it as is claimed by the plaintiffs.
There is manifest error in the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas in overruling the plea in abatement, and the judgment is reversed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred; except Loomis, J., who dissented.