51 Fla. 229 | Fla. | 1906
An action was brought by the plaintiff in error against C. P. Bobe as principal and M. F. Gonzalez and Edwin Senior as sureties on the official bond of said C. P. Bobe as Constable for District No 2, Escambia county, Florida. The bond was conditioned that ”if the said C. P. Bobe shall diligently and faithfully perform all the duties of his said office as prescribed by law, then this obligation to be void, else to be and remain in full force and virtue.” A demurrer to the declaration on the ground “that it does not show any breach of the condition of the bond sued on” was sustained, and the plaintiff not desiring to amend the declaration, final judgment was rendered by the court for the defendant. On writ of error here error is assigned on the order sustaining the demurrer to the declaration as well as on the rendering
Section 1257 of the Revised Statutes provides that “every constable shall give a bond in the sum of five hundred dollars, which shall be governed by the provisions governing bonds to be given by the Clerk of the Circuit Court.” Section 1381 provides that “the Clerk of the Circuit Court shall, before he is commissioned, give bond * * * which * * * shall be conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.” There is no statute in this State regulating the liability of the obligors on the official bond of a constable. The liability of the obligors, therefore, is to be determined by the terms of the bond itself, and such terms cannot be extended beyond the reasonable meaning thereof construed with reference to the purposes contemplated by the law requiring the bond. See Raney v. Baron, 1 Fla. 327; State v. Montague, 34 Fla. 32, 15 South. Rep. 589; Gato v. Warrington, 37 Fla. 542, 19 South. Rep. 883; Robinson. v. Epping, 24 Fla. 237, text 262, 4 South. Rep. 812; 25 Am. & Eng. Ency Law, 723.
The obligation of the bond in this case is that C. P. Bobe as constable “shall diligently and faithfully perform all the duties of his said office as prescribed by law.” The breach of the bond alleged in the declaration is that C. P. Bobe as such constable did make out and present to the Board of County Commissioners of Escambia county, Florida, certain improper and excessive accounts for costs and charges against the county for service of process in criminal cases and services rendered therein in Justice of the Peace Court, District No. 2, said county, and did make affidavit to each of said bills and accounts so presented “that said bills were made out in
While the statute requmes a constable to make out his account against the county in certain way, this requirement relates to the manner of exercising a right conferred on the constable, to-wit: To collect certain fees for
The demurrer to the declaration was properly sustained and the judgment for the defendant is affirmed at the cost of the plaintiff in error.