228 Mass. 581 | Mass. | 1917
This is an action on a bond dated October 15, 1913, given to the plaintiff as assignee of Ralph T. C. Jackson, by the defendant as principal and the defendant Royal Indemnity Company as surety, in the amount- of $4,000.
The bond was given under R. L. c. 197, § 28, to dissolve a me
October 25,1915, action was brought on the bond in the Second District Court of Bristol with the ad damnum in the writ of $1,000. That court dismissed the action for want of jurisdiction. On appeal, the defendants filed in the Superior Court a motion that judgment be entered for the defendants; the motion was denied and the judge found for the plaintiff.
It is settled that the jurisdiction of district courts, so far as it depends upon the amount or value of the thing in question, is to be decided solely by the ad damnum set forth in the writ; and it is also settled that the jurisdiction of the Superior Court, as an appellate court is dependent on the jurisdiction of the inferior court. Ashuelot Bank v. Pearson, 14 Gray, 521. Hall v. Hall, 200 Mass. 194. In the case at bar, notwithstanding the ad damnum of the writ is not greater than the jurisdiction of the district court, it is contended that that court was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the issues because upon proof of a breach the judgment must be for the penalty of the bond, R. L. c. 177, § 9, Newton v. Rice, 118 Mass. 417; and also because it would be erroneous to enter judgment in excess of the ad damnum of the writ. Safford
The admission of the warrant of sale and a certified copy thereof, as evidence of a final judgment in the suit brought to enforce the lien, was error. The final judgment in a lien suit is the decree of sale which establishes the lien for a certain amount and orders a sale of the premises. The warrant of sale which issues upon and follows this decree corresponds to an execution which follows a final judgment in a common law action. A disputed judgment can be proved only by the record of that judgment or by a copy thereof duly attested by the clerk of the court wherein it was rendered. Hoover v. Jones, 84 Neb. 662.
The motion that judgment be entered for the defendants was denied rightly. The exception to the admission of the evidence is sustained.
So ordered.