14 Minn. 460 | Minn. | 1869
By the Court
The plaintiff brought an action of replevin before a justice of the peace against the defendant and one J. C.- Kates, alleging in her complaint that the appellant Thomas was in possession of the property claimed, and that J. C. Kates claimed the same as belonging to himself, for which reason he was made a co-defendant. By virtue of the writ of replevin the property was taken and delivered to the plaintiff, as appears by the coroner’s return. The jury found that Thomas was entitled to the possession of the property replevied, and assessed its value at 828. The justice thereupon rendered judgment against the plaintiff and in favor of Thomas for the sum of twenty-eight dollars and costs. The plaintiff, and the defendant J. C. Kates, took separate appeals to the district court upon questions of law alone. The district court reversed the judgment as to all the parties, and from the judgment of reversal Thomas alone appeals to this court, and his co-defendant makes no appearance here. The reasons for the reversal do not appear, but it is said by the plaintiff that
We think, however, as urged by the appellant, that the district court should have modified and corrected the judgment of the justice, instead of- reversing it. The appeal was upon questions of law alone, and in such cases the appeal is to “ be tried in the district court upon the return of the justice.” Sec. 107, p. 435, Gen. Stat., as amended,p. 135, Laws 1868. The statute does not say that the judgment appealed from shall be reversed, affirmed or modified,
Here, so far as the point which we have considered is concerned, the only cause of complaint is the form of the judgment, a judgment rendered upon the verdict of a jury, and which could be properly rendered in .one form only ; we can conceive of no reason why the district court should not be allowed to modify and correct it so as to make it right, and administer justice final and complete.
~We are therefore of opinion that the district court erred in reversing the judgment of the justice. It should have been modified and corrected so as to read in the alternative, as above suggested.
As to the point made in regard to the admission of the execution, we are unable to sec how its admission could have prejudiced the plaintiff. So far as appears in the paper book, the co-defendant J. C. Kates was the only person who could have been affected by it, and he made no objection, and took no exception to its admission. The judgment of the district court is reversed, and the case remanded for judgment in accordance with the views herein expressed.