30 W. Va. 532 | W. Va. | 1887
It is a well-settled rule in practice that, when any pleading is demurred to, the demurrer goes back to the first error, and judgment will be rendered thereon against the party committing the first fault, although the pleading demurred to may be fatally defective. In this case the parties have demurred to the respective pleadings of each other, and as a consequence thereof they admit that the allegations made in'their respective pleadings are true as stated therein. It therefore appears that before and at the time when petitioner became indebted to Carroll-in the sum of $48.90, on account of wages earned by him in the months of August and September, he was indebted to the petitioner, as the assignee of Mather, in the sum of $41.00, with interest from the twenty first of July, 1882, and $2.50 costs, and that, when he brought his suit before the justice to recover the amount of his wages, the petitioner made defence thereto by filing his plea of set-off, as the assignee of this judgment; that issue was joined on this plea; that Carroll demanded that the same should be and it accordingly was tried by a jury, who found a verdict in his favor for the whole of his demand, which the justice for some good cause set aside, and granted' the petitioner a new trial, which, by the demand of Carroll, was also tried by a jury, who found a verdict in favor of petitioner for $5.79, being the excess of principal, interest and cost of the Mather judgment over the amount of Carroll’s demand, for which petitioner had judgment; and this was exactly in accordance with sections 4 and 9, ch. 126, Code, unless he was not entitled to such set-off by reason of matters alleged in his replication to the petitioner’s plea of set-off.
Treating this replication of C. as sufficiently setting out all the grounds of defence which might be necessary to show that E. had no right to use the judgment of Mather as a set-off against the demand claimed in his civil action, he had the right to prove, on the trials thereof before the jury, that E. was not in fact the owner of that j udgment; that E. was simply the agent of Mather, used or employed for its collection ; that the pretended assignment of the judgment was made to enable E. the better to collect it, and that the judgment was in fact the property of Mather. He also had the
These circumstances bring this case precisely within the rulings of this Court in Barlow v. Daniels, 25 W. Va. 512, and in Hickman v. Railroad Co., supra, 296, and Fouse v. Vandervort, supra, 327. All the facts in this case had been twice tried by a jury, and by section 91, ch. 50, Code, it is expressly declared that “ no more than one new trial shall be granted by a justice in any case.” And this Court in Barlow v. Daniels, and Hickman v. Railroad Co., and Rouse v. Vandervort, supra, has decided that “ the provision of section 13 of article III of the Constitution of this State, as amended in 1880, which declares that
In regard to civil suits before a justice, the inhibition contained in section 13 of article 3 of the Constitution, as construed by this Court in Barlow v. Daniels, Hickman v. Railroad Co., and Rouse v. Vandervort, supra, and the provision contained in section 91 of chapter 50 of the Code declaring that “ no more than one new trial shall be granted by a justice in any case,” necessarily precludes any other court from re-trying the matter determined in the trial before the justice; nor will a party to any such ended controversy be permitted by any change in the form of his remedy, or of the character of the forum to which he resorts, to re-try the cause, or review the conclusions of law or fact so settled and determined. Meeks v. Windon, 10 W. Va. 180. If a court of equity can in such a case assume and rightfully exercise jurisdiction to review, re-try, and reverse such a judgment upon the same matters of law and fact therein decided, then said constitutional and statutory prohibitions, as well as the construction placed thereon by the court, would become nugatory, and the parties to such suit would in all cases where the matter in controversy, exclusive of costs, was not of greater value or amount than $100.00, be without remedy. If this unlimited jurisdiction be con
But it is contended by the defendant, Carroll, that the Circuit Court of Cabell county, as a court of equity, has jurisdiction and power over judgments atlaw to set them aside, and grant new trials, for equitable causes, on the grounds of fraud, accident, surprise, or some adventitious circumstances beyond the control of the party seeking relief, and therefore said court had power to grant the relief prayed for. Except in the case in judgment, we know of no case where a court of equity has attempted, in the exercise of its lawful jurisdiction, to set aside a judgment at law, and grant the party a new trial. It may be stated as a general principle, in regard to injunctions after a judgment atlaw, that any facts which prove it to be against conscience to execute such judgment, and of which the injured party could not have availed himself in a court of law, or of which he might have availed himself in a court of law, but was prevented by fraud or accident, unmixed with any fault or negligence in himself or agents, will authorize a court of equity to interfere by injunction to restrain the adverse party from availing himself of such judgment. “ Bills of this sort are usually called bills for a new trial. ” 2 Story Eq. Jur., § 887. Neither will courts of equity relieve against a judgment at law where the casein equity proceeds upon a defence equally available at law, but the plaintiff must es-
Speaking of this doctrine; Lord Redesdale says : “ It is not sufficient to show that injustice has been done, but that it has been done under circumstances which authorize the court to interfere; because, if a matter has been already investigated in a court of justice according to the common and ordinary rules of investigation, a court of equity can not take upon itself, to enter into it again. There may be cases cognizable at law, and also in equity, of which cognizance can not be effectually taken at law, and therefore equity does sometimes interfere, as in cases of complicated accounts, where the party has not made defence because it was impossible for him to do it effectually at law. So, where a verdict has been obtained by fraud, or where a party has possessed himself improperly of something by means of which he has an unconscionable advantage at law, which equity will either put out of the way, or restrain him from using; but, without circumstances of that kind, I do not know that equity ever does interfere to grant a trial of a matter which has already been discussed in a court of law, and over which a court of law has had full jurisdiction. ” u A bill for a new trial is watched by equity with extreme jealousy. It must see that injustice has been done, not merely through the inattention of the parties, but some such reason as I have mentioned must exist.” In Slack v. Wood, 9 Grat. 40, Lee, J., says: “The, grounds on which a court of equity will interfere to grant relief against a judgment are confessedly somewhat narrow and restricted. It
In the case under consideration, Carroll’s demand was a legal demand, pursued before the justice who had full jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit instituted to recover the same. The petitioner’s defence was a legal defence, expressly authorized by 'section 4, ch. 126, Code, to be made. The special replication thereto set up a sufficient legal de-fence to this set-off; both parties present by counsel, and Carroll in person. All the evidence offered by both parties was heard and considered by the jury, who, after hearing the argument of counsel on the new trial, found for the defendant $5.79, for which he had judgment. No other new trial could be had, — that was forbidden by section 91, ch. 50, Code; and no appeal from the judgment could be taken; for that was denied by section 13 of article III of the Constitu - tion, as well as by the adjudication of this Court. Such
It would be a reproach to the law of the land, if such a decree made by a court without jurisdiction in the premises, in violation of the Constitution and statutes of the State, and in disregard of every well settled rule of equity jurisprudence governing courts of equity in relation to injunction to judgments of courts of competent jurisdiction, could neither be reversed nor set aside. Fortunately for the administration of public justice, such is not the fact; for the ancient writ of prohibition remains not only to prevent inferior courts from encroaching upon the jurisdiction of superior courts, but to prevent any inferior tribunal from usurping a jurisdiction with which it is not legally vested, and it is used to keep such courts within the limits and bounds prescribed for them by law; for it is of vital importance to the due administration of justicethat every tribunal vested with judicial functions should be confined strictly to the exercise of those powers with which it has been by law intrusted. High Extr. Rem., § 762; Brazie v. Commissioners, 25 W. Va. 213. Being an extraordinary remedy,
While there is some apparent conflict of authority as to the stage of the cause in the court below, at which the application for the writ may be made, as to whether it should be made before or after the decision of the court, the distinction is as to whether the want of jurisdiction in the subordinate court, which is relied on as the foundation of the writ, is apparent upon the proceedings sought to be prohibited; and where this want of jurisdiction is thus apparent upon the record, the superior tribunal may interpose the aid of a prohibition at any stage of the proceedings below, even after verdict, sentence, or judgment. High Extr. Rem. 774. In Hutson v. Lowry, 2 Va. Cas. 42, H. owed L. $80.00, for which he executed to him four single bills of $20.00 each, dated the same day, and payable, respectively, in one day, one, two, and three months thereafter. After the last note became payable, L. on the same day brought four several suits against H. upon said single bills for $20.00 each, and recovered against him four several judgments, and on the same day sued out, an execution on each of said judgments, and placed the same in the hands of the constable to be levied, who collected the amounts thereof, and returned the executions satisfied “ and money ready to render.” The defendant notified the constable not to pay over the money to the plaintiff in the executions, and upon these facts applied to the superior court for a writ of prohibition to preyent the justice from all further proceed
It only remains to apply these authorities to these admitted facts. The judgment recovered by the petitioner on the new trial was final and conclusive, and could, neither be re-tried nor appealed from ; and neither Carroll nor the Circuit Court of Cabell county, as a court pf equity, could evade the constitutional or statutory inhibition from proceeding to re-try the cause; and the want of jurisdiction
Wbit Allowed.