6 Mo. 361 | Mo. | 1840
Opinion of the Court delivered hy
This is a proceeding, instituted in the circuit court of St. Louis county, by Lindell against the president, directora and company of the Bank of Missouri. The plaintiff, Lindell, obtained a judgment against the Bank, but not being able to make the money on execution, he caused an attachment to be issued on the 18th day of July, in the year 1837, which was returned, “executed by summoning Thomas II. Benton and George H. Kennedy, as garnishees, fo answer such interrogatories as might be exhibited against them by the plaintiff, touching their indebtedness to the president, directors and company of the Bank, defendants in the writ of attachment. The garnishees moved to be discharged: Because, 1st, At this date there is no such' corporation existing as the president, directors, &c., of the Bank of Missouri, the charter thereof having expired, according to the original act of incorporation. 2d, Neither in the said writ of attachment, nor in the execution, nor in the praecipe, ordering tho same, are the names of the garnishees, or of either of them, mentioned; nor has the sheriff shown, by his return, that there was any property of the defendants in the hands of the garnishees, or of either of them. 3. The execution issued in ’ _ this case is irregular and void.
1st, The act to incorporate the stockholders of the
2d. Was this attachment duly issued?
The 8th section- of the act to- regulate proceedings against-corporations, (p.-126 of the digest of 1835,) directs, that “in J case the sheriff,.or other officer,, shall return upon any writ' ‘ of fieri facias, that no goods and chattels, lands and tene- * ments, can be found whereon- to levy, &e., it shall be the ‘ duty of the circuit court, on the application of the plaintiff ‘ or his attorney, to issue a writ of attachment against the- ‘ rights and creditors of the- corporation, reciting the judg- ‘ ment, execution and return,- and directed to the sheriff of ‘ the county.” The ninth section declares, that, ‘such- at- ‘ tachmcut shall .be executed by summoning,- as garnishee, ‘ any person having moneys, or effects, belonging to:such ‘ corporation, and any debtor to such corporation who may ‘ be found in his county, to appear before the circuit court ‘ at the return of the writ, and then and there answer; touch- ‘ ing any moneys or effects of such corporation in his hands, ‘ or any debt he may owe to the same;” and- the tenth- sec- ‘ tion provides, that “from the time of making such service, ‘ all moneys and effects due and owing, payable-or belonging ‘ to such corporation, shall be bound until the judgment is ‘ satisfied.” *
A writ of fieri facias had been returned by the sheriff,.and, from that return, it appeared that no property was found belonging to the bank;- and this writ of fieri facias was recited in the writ of attachment. But by the 11th section of the same act, it is declared, that proceedings against garnishees, under this aet, shall be- the same as against absent and absconding, debtors;- and it is, therefore, contended, that a debtor of the Bank- could not be- summoned, unless he were either named in the writ, or directed to be summoned by the plaintiff, or his attorney. Because, it is said, that under the-
The corporation then having a legal existence, at the time the defendants in the attachment were summoned, it does not affect the rights of Lindell, that its charter had
The record shows that, in less than one. year after the . , J was .rendered against the Bank, an execution was issued and returned not satisfied, no property being found-The case of Dowsman vs. Potter, 1st volume of Missouri decisions, shows that in such case another execution maybe issued at any time thereafter, without resorting to the writ. of sci. fa. The court there declared, that they .could see no use Rav*n§ continuances of the executions entered, ac* to the practice of the English courts,, saying, it is a mere form, and that they were opposed -to adopting fictions udless seme good end can be answered thereby. This being , , , , . tne only objection to the execution, which preceded the attachment, and, immediately after the return of which the older for issuing the attachment was made, it-is my opinion ^is .execution was not irregular -and void, as the defendants counsel have supposed, in their .third reason for dis- , . ~ , , charging them from-the attachment.
circuit eourt> then, in my opinion, committed error in sustaining the motion for discharging -the defendants from this attachment,-and its judgment -ought to be reversed, and .Judge Napton concuning., it is reversed.