29 Ind. 66 | Ind. | 1867
This case was submitted to the court below upon an agreed statement of facts, verified by affidavit of the appellant, that the controversy is real and the proceedings in good'faith, to determine the-rights of the parties.
On the 15th of March, 1867, Miller, as administrator, sold the lands to the appellant Gregory, “subject to the interest of Mrs. Elizabeth D. High, widow of said decedent, and also subject to a specific lien in favor of John Perdue for the sum of $30,401.” The sale to Gregory was'for $24,239 15. (We may remark, parenthetically, that Perdue had a lien for $401, in addition to the Boone Circuit Court decree, which is since paid.) In pursuance of this sale, which was reported and confirmed, Miller made Gregory a deed for “ four-fifths of the lands.”
The court below, upon these facts, found and adjudged that the four-fifths of the lands owned by the appellant should be sold first, and if sufficient- for- that purpose* that the lands conveyed to Perdue should not contribute toward the payment of the decree. A motion for a new trial, by the appellant, having been overruled and exceptions duly taken, this action of the court below is before this court for review. The statute provides that “parties shall have the right, in all cases, by an agreement to that effect,, to submit any matter of controversy between them, to. any-court that would otherwise have jurisdiction of such cause, upon an agreed statement of facts, to be made out and signed by the parties.” 2 G-. & II., § 386, p. 222". We think it must appear, from such statement of facts, that there exists a cause of action in favor of one of the parties against the other.
Is there any cause of action disclosed here? The- plaintiff asks to have a decree obtained in his favor in the-Boone Circuit Court, for the foreclosure of his. mortgage, and sale of the property, modified by the judgment of the Warren Circuit Court. Rut the appellee was a party to that action, and secured all he was at that time entitled to, and he has not since acquired any rights which entitle him to have that decree now. changed. The widow, whose title he has subsequently purchased, was also a party to- the decree, and
Again, would the Warren Circuit Court have any jurisdiction to modify or change a decree of the Boone Circuit Court in the execution thereof? The rule is quite well settled, that one court cannot control the execution of the orders or process of any other court of equal jurisdiction. The Indiana and Illinois Railroad Co. et al. v. Williams, 22 Ind. 198. By what process it was intended to compel the sheriff, in executing the decree of one circuit court, to be governed by the orders of another circuit court, so far as to disregard the terms of the decree, we do not understand.
"We are satisfied that there was no case presented by the agreed statement of facts, authorizing the action of the Warren Circuit Court, -and that judgment is therefore reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to dismiss the proceedings.
Gregory, J., being a brother of one of the parties, did not sit in the case.