28 S.E. 258 | N.C. | 1897
If exception from the practice regulating appeals is made in one case as a favor, every other appellant has the right to argue that he also should be excepted, if negligent. The consequence will be that the time of the appellate Court, which, as far as possible, should be devoted exclusively to hearing appeals upon their merits, will be largely taken up with the discussion of mere questions of practice raised by those who, having from indifference or negligence disregarded the regulations which govern the procedure as to appeals, conceive each that his cause should be made an exception to the rules. It is necessary to have some rules of procedure as to appeals, and those prescribed by statute and by this Court are very few and very plain. The only way to avoid a great and useless loss of time is for appellants to obey and for the Court impartially and rigidly to observe them, so that an appellant who fails to do so may not take up time in asking to be made an exception.
The rule as to printing the necessary portions of the record was made for the benefit of litigants and to expedite business, and the necessity for adhering to it has been often stated by the Court. Horton v. Green,
The "case on appeal," including everything ordered or agreed to be "made a part" thereof, is required to be printed. Here, "Exhibit A" was made a part of the case on appeal by the parties themselves who settled the case upon agreement. The appellant's counsel afterwards chose to regard "Exhibit A" as immaterial and did not print it. The appellee's counsel asserts that it is material to the hearing of the appeal. To decide between them, we would have to go through the case. Both parties assented to its being material by putting it in as a part of the "case on appeal." Not having printed it, the appellant has not (186) complied with the requirements, long prescribed and uniformly observed by the Court as necessary for the proper dispatch of business here, and the motion to dismiss for such noncompliance must be granted.
Appeal dismissed.
Cited: Barbee v. Scoggins, ante, 141; Hicks v. Royal,