34 Fla. 233 | Fla. | 1894
Mrs. Todd brought an action of slander in the Circuit Court of Polk county against Hayes, the plaintiff in error. The declaration alleged that Mrs. Todd, the plaintiff, was at the time of the filing of the same, and had been for over one year previously, a tona fide citizen of Polk county, Florida. On the rule day in June, 1889, being the same at which the defendant was required to plead to the declaration, he filed a petition praying for removal of said case to the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of Florida. The petition was in the usual form required by the-statutes of the United States. As a ground of removal, of the cause it alleged that the defendant Hayes was. at the time of filing said petition a citizen of the State of New York, and that he was a citizen of said State at the time of the commencement of said suit. The petition further alleged that the amount involved in the case exceeded the sum of $2,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and that the petitioner files therewith a bond as in such cases is required by the statute. The defendant on the same day (June 3rd, 1889) filed his bond upon removal, but whether such bond was actually filed before or after the order of removal hereinafter set forth, is not clearly shown by the record. This.
The plaintiff in error makes eight assignments of •error. In his brief he argues only three of them. In .accordance with the rule laid down in this court, we -consider all assignments not argued as abandoned, and we consider only those contended for by argument in the brief for plaintiff in errror. Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Ry. Co. vs. Peninsular Land, T. & M. Co., 27 Fla., 1. 9 South. Rep., 661; Everett vs. State, 33 Fla., 661, 15 South. Rep., 543; Clarke vs. Southern Express Co., 33 Fla., 617, 15 South. Rep., 252; Meinhard Bros. & Co. vs. Mode, 22 Fla., 279.
The next question is as to the sufficiency of the bond. The statutes of the United States regulating the subject of removal of cases from the State courts into the-United States courts is the ac,t of Congress of March 3rd, 1887, page 552, et seq., Chapter 373, statutes of the United States passed at the second session of the 49th Congress. The enrollment of this act was corrected by Chapter 866, acts of the first session of the 50th Congress, page 433 et seq. The act in question, after providing for a petition and the time of filing the same, reads as follows: “and shall make and file therewith (the petition) a bond with good and sufficient surety, for his or their entering in such Circuit Court, '-•on the first day of its then next session a copy of the
The second assignment of error is, that the court-erred in rescinding his order for the removal of said cause and all the papers therein to the Circuit Court of the United States. The assignment does not correctly quote the order. The order, as it appears of record, had already been fully set out in this opinion. The order, if it transfers the case at all, transfers it to'
The next assignment of error argued by the plaintiff in error is, that the Circuit Judge charged the jury as follows: “Exemplary damages are such as not only compensate the wrong done, but also tend to protect al 1 good citizens of the State from like wrongs from the reckless and malicious tongue of such lawless persons as have no regard for the good name of their fellows, or for the fair name and virtue of the women of •the land, but turn themselves loose like ravenous wolves to destroy that which money can not buy, and that which, when lost, the powers of earth can not restore.” It is not claimed that this charge states incorrectly any proposition of law, but that the language in which it was couched was calculated to arouse both
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed..
The charge given by the court to the jury, and referred to in the opinion, was not, in my opinion, proper, and was calculated to improperly influence the jury. I can not see that no harm resulted from giving the charge, therefore do not concur in the views expressed in reference to it.