52 So. 44 | Ala. | 1910
Common-laAV certiorari.
If the theory of the petitioner is maintainable, as it is presented in this application, viz., that the judgment assailed is void, and if it is of record apparent, common-law certiorari is the proper remedy to review and annul the judgment.—Independent Pub. Co. v. Amer. Press Co., 102 Ala. 475, 490, 15 South. 947.
These are the facts: Pinkney Scott instituted detinue against the petitioner, Allen, in the Bessemer city court. His complaint was: “The' plaintiff claims of the defendant the following personal property, to avíL
The petitioner, in several ways, invoked the court below to set aside the judgment and to quash the execution, folloAving in orderly course from the judgment — • in all of which the petitioner was denied relief — before seeking review here. The first basis of insistence that the judgment is Amid is that neither the amendment nor the amended complaint was served on the defendant before the default was adjudged. Primarily these principles pertain to the question presented and to be decided.
In this instance the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and of the person. The amendment, ex parte, fixed the value of the animal and enhanced (let us assume) the amount of the damages claimed in the original declaration. Taking the defendant’s failure to plead xvithin the requisite period as an admission of the matters then (after amendment) alleged in the declaration, it is obvious that the court’s fault, jurisdiction ed as stated above, Avas, at most, in exceeding, in adjudging, the limits made by the averments of the original declaration in respect to the Aralue of the animal and in the amount of the damages claimed. In short, the defendant’s default admitted the Avrongfui detention-of the animal, and that the plaintiff Avas due, at least, some damages for the hire or use thereof; the amoun ts, in both .instances, being unstated in the original declaration. The result, then, of the alloAving of the amendment and, thereupon, the juridical conclusion that defendant admitted the value of the animal and the damages for the detention, as alleged in the amendment only, Avas to unwarrantably conclude as upon an admission by defendant in excess of AArhat he
It is averred in the petition that by rule duly promulgated by the city court, and in force, the chancery, default, and motion dockets were heard on Saturdays. This judgment by default Avas taken on Friday. The defendant was in default on that day. The insistence is that the judgment taken on Friday, instead of Saturday, is void. We Avill assume, for the occasion only, that the rule had the force of a statute; and, if so, the granting of the defeult was, at most, premature, and, hence, an irregularity—6 Ency. Pl.—Pr. p. 94, citing, in note 2, our decisions supporting the text.
In my opinion the writ should be denied.
Writ denied.