19 Wis. 193 | Wis. | 1865
At the June term, 1863, this court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court, and the following opinion was filed :
By the Court,
This action was commenced before a justice of the peace, on a promissory note, the plaintiff claiming one hundred dollars damages. The justice gave
When it was offered in the circuit court, it was rejected upon the ground that it would not have been admissible before the justice. This was correct. Section six, chapter 120, R. S., gives a justice jurisdiction in an action upon a note given for more than one hundred dollars, “ which has been reduced by credits or payments indorsed thereon to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars.” It is very clear, that under this provision the actual reduction of the note to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars, by indorsements on it, is essential to enable a justice to render any judgment upon it.
The only way in which the counsel for the plaintiff sought to sustain the jurisdiction of the justice, was by resorting to section 5 of the same chapter, which gives to justices general jurisdiction in actions upon contract where the debt or balance due or damages claimed do not exceed one hundred dollars. But it is a well settled rule of construction, that specific provisions relating to a particular subject must govern in respect to that subject, as against general provisions in other parts of the law, which might otherwise be broad enough to include it. And by this rule, the provisions of section six, relating specially to actions on notes given for more than one hundred dollars, must govern the case. And it follows that the circuit court could not give judgment on the note, inasmuch as the justice could not have done so. Eor it would have been improper to allow the plaintiff to amend the ad damnum clause in his complaint, and proceed in the circuit court for the whole
The judgment is affirmed, with costs.
A rehearing was granted, and the cause was re-argued at the January term, 1865.
Wheeler & Brown, for appellant.
O. G. Remington, for respondent:
1. It did not appear on the trial in the circuit court, that the note offered in evidence was the same one on which the action was commenced. The complaint did not show for what amount that note was given. It appears that the note was not filed wth the justice as a part of the complaint, (1.) Because the justice makes no mention of such filing in his docket, but
By the Court,
We are satisfied that the circuit court erred in trying or attempting to try this case on the merits, and in rendering judgment for costs. We cannot agree with the counsel for the respondent that it nowhere appears in the record that the note offered in evidence in the circuit court is the same as that declared on before the justice. We think the indorsement on the back of it sufficiently proves it to be the note on which the suit was brought. The former opinion of this court in this case, that thé justice had no jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action, and that therefore the circuit court, on appeal, had no jurisdiction, is right.
We think, however, on a dismissal by the circuit court of the appeal for want of jurisdiction, it can render no judgment for costs. 1 Wis., 511; 4 Wis., 188.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, with costs.