104 Ga. 718 | Ga. | 1898
The only question presented by the record in this case is, whether, after an appeal from a county court to the superior court, the defendant in the case is entitled, as a matter of law, to file a plea or answer in the superior court and have the issue arising thereunder tried and adjudicated, when no answer or plea had been' filed in the county court. The plaintiff in error, through his counsel, contends that, after an appeal to the superior court, the trial of the case is a de novo proceeding, and being so, he has a right then to make his defense and the corresponding right to file proper answer or plea .as a basis for such defense. The trial of a case on appeal is a de novo investigation, and our code declares that either party is entitled to be heard on the whole merits of the case. Civil Code, § 4469. We are not unmindful that another provision of our Civil Code, § 4139, declares that in cases appealed from the justice’s court to the superior court, it is the duty of the de
Counsel for the plaintiff in error further insists that he was entitled to enter an appeal as a matter of right, and that this right exists notwithstanding he may not have filed any plea or made any defense in the county court; all of which we concede; his right to appeal is not denied, but will be given full effect. The question is, not whether the right of appeal exists, but, having exercised this right, can he bring into the trial of the case in the superior court defenses which were not made in the court from the judgment of which he has taken an appeal? The trial of the case on appeal is a de novo proceeding, but it by no means follows that the pleadings and defenses in the case are to begin over again in this new trial. On the contrary, the new trial is had on the papers connected with the case when the judgment was rendered (Civil Code, § 4214), subject to proper amendment. It is declared in the act making provision for the creation of county courts (Acts 1878 — 9, p. 132, Civil Code, §4204), that “the practice and mode of procedure in the county court,” etc., shall be the same as in the superior court, unless otherwise provided; and to ascertain by what rules of practice and methods of procedure trials in the county court are to be governed, we have but to ascertain what provisions are made
We find, therefore, that under the system of pleading existing in this State, defenses to actions are to be made at the first term after suit is brought, that this rule of procedure applies in a county, court, and that neither in the superior court nor county court has the defendant any right as a matter of law to file a plea or answer in the nature of a defense at the trial term. If the defendant in error had brought his case to the superior court, the plaintiff in error could not have made the answer he proposes now to make when the case came on to be tried. He did not do so at the trial in the county court when the law gave him the right to make it, but suffered a judgment to go against him for want of answer. Our statutes regulating pleading and practice have for their object the simplifying of the issues to be submitted to the jury, as well as the early disposition of cases. To accomplish these' objects, allegations on which the plaintiff claims the right of recovery must he separately and
Judgment affirmed.