81 Kan. 309 | Kan. | 1909
The opinion of the court was delivered by
In an action brought by Richard Merywethers in the city court of Wichita against J. F. Youmans he alleged that he had been employed by You-
There is a contention here that the court was without jurisdiction to try and decide the case for the reason that under the averments of the bill of particulars the amount in controversy was more than $800, while the jurisdiction of the city court in such cases is limited to $600, and, further, that the appeal gave the district court no other or greater jurisdiction than was possessed' by the city court. Under the act creating the city court of Wichita it is given j urisdiction in cases for the recovery of money only where “the amount claimed does not exceed $600.” (Laws 1899, ch. 130, §2.) The jurisdiction, as will be observed, is fixed by the amount claimed, and not by the amount of indebtedness. No more than $600 was claimed by Merywethers in either the body or prayer of his bill of particulars. It was the privilege of Merywethers to abandon a part of the debt, and when he limited his demand or claim to $600 he necessarily remitted or forgave so much of the debt as exceeded that sum. (Wooster v. McKinley, 1 Kan. 317; Wagstaff v. Challiss, 31 Kan. 212; Ball v. Biggam, 43 Kan. 327; Parker v. Dobson, 78 Kan. 62.)
There was no error in admitting testimony showing the value of Merywethers’s services. He pleaded an
The last complaint is of the admission in evidence of certain books and leaves containing accounts showing payments made by Youmans. These entries were made at the instance of Merywethers and upon reports or statements made by him. He was unable to read or write, and about the time of the payments he caused entries to be made by other persons in the book which he carried. The plan was for him to dictate the credits to his companions, who put them in a book and who in turn repeated or read the entries so made to Merywethers. The book and leaves containing these accounts were confirmed and verified by the testimony of the persons who made the entries, as well as by the testimony of Merywethers that the credits were correctly reported. These may be properly regarded as original entries, and when duly verified by the oaths of the persons making them were admissible in evidence. (The State v. Stephenson, 69 Kan. 405.)
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.