17 Barb. 506 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1854
The only point made on the part of the appellants is, that it does not appear from the record that the county court in which the action was brought and tried
It was well settled that jurisdiction would be presumed in favor of the late courts of common pleas where it did not appear upon the records. (Foot v. Stevens, 17 Wend. 483. Hart v. Seixas, 21 Id. 40.) But they were held to be courts of general jurisdiction, as well as courts of record, proceeding according to the course of the common law. Whereas the jurisdiction of county courts is limited by statute, in civil actions, to cases where the claim does not exceed $500 and the defendants are all residents of the county where the action is commenced. But they are, nevertheless, courts of record, and proceed according to the course of the common law, each having a clerk and a seal. Although their jurisdiction is limited and prescribed by statute, their practice is not, any more than that of the supreme court; but they proceed as does this court, according to the course of the common law, and are governed by the same rules and practice. They have not the same powers which pertained to the old courts of common pleas, it is true ; but while in some respects their powers have been curtailed, or to speak more accurately, powers to the same extent have not been conferred, in other respects new powers have been added, far beyond what the old courts of common pleas ever possessed. So that if the question of superiority or inferiority between these courts and the late courts of common pleas were to depend upon which courts had the most numerous and extensive powers, jt might be somewhat difficult to determine which of the two was the superior court. “ All courts,” says Oh. Justice Marshall in Kempe’s Lessee v. Kennedy, (5 Cranch, 173,) “ from which an appeal lies are inferior courts in relation to the appellate courts to which their judgments may be carried, but they are not therefore inferior courts in the technical sense of those words. They apply to courts of special and limited jurisdiction, which are erected on such principles that their judgments, taken alone, are entirely disregarded, and the proceedings must show their jurisdiction.”
Surrogates’ courts have been repeatedly held to be inferior
County courts are courts of general jurisdiction as to kinds or classes of civil actions, and are in no respect limited, except by the amount of the claim and the non-residence of the defendants in the county, or some of them, where the action is commenced. In the leading case upon this question, that of Peacock v. Bell, (supra,) which was brought before the king’s bench on writ of error from the court of the county palatine of Durham; the error alleged was, that it did not appear from the record that the contract upon which the action was brought was made within the jurisdiction of the court, whereas by statute the court had no right to try any cause which arose upon a contract made in another county. That the declaration only alleged án indebtedness by the defendant at the city of Durham; which would be true if the contract was made elsewhere, and out of the county. But the court held that although both the court of the county palatine, and the common bench, were inferior to that court, they were not inferior courts in the sense that every thing must be certified precisely upon the record; and that they would take notice of the jurisdiction of such courts, and intend that the contract was made within the jurisdiction, if the contrary did not appear. These courts of county palatine were of the ' species denominated private courts, and had but a limited local jurisdiction, but they had cognizance of actions both in law and equity.
The question is not whether the court in question is inferior or superior to Some other court, but whether it is inferior in the sense that every thing is required to be specifically certified upon its records; and if it is not so; its judgments may be attacked and avoided collaterally. I am clearly of opinion that in that sense county courts are superior courts.
They are in their nature, constitution, machinery and practice, common law courts-. They are held by judges, and prac*
If the defense really existed, the defendants should have set it up in their answer ; not having done so, either in the answer or by their evidence upon the trial, it will not be presumed in their behalf to have existed. It was urged by the plaintiff’s counsel that even if it was to be presumed the defendants or some of them were non-residents, where the contrary did not
Selden, Welles and Johnson, Justices,]
But upon the ground that the presumption is in favor of the defendants’ residence in the county of Monroe at the time of the commencement of the action, as regards these courts, I am of opinion the judgment should be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Note. This case was decided before the judges had seen the reported case of Fees v. Ford, (2 Selden, 176.) That case was referred to upon the argument by the appellants’ counsel, but Mr. Justice Welles, who was a member of the court of appeals when that case was decided, and took part in the decision, understood the point upon which the decision turned was the constitutionality of the act establishing county courts, and not the superior or inferior character of those courts. The question is regarded as one of sufficient importance to justify a report of the case and decision. Not as dissenting from the decision of the court of appeals, but for the purpose of eliciting a fuller and more careful discussion and examination in that court than it would seem to have undergone, should it regard the question as still an open one.