79 N.C. 535 | N.C. | 1878
The plaintiff complains:
1. That the defendants are indebted to him in the sum of $488. 70 at 8 per cent interest per annum from 1 December, 1875.
(536) 2. That no part of said debt has been paid.
3. Therefore the plaintiff demands judgment against the defendants (for said sum) and costs.
The defendants demur:
Because the facts stated in said complaint are insufficient to constitute a cause of action, in that it does not contain a plain and concise statement of the facts constituting the plaintiff's cause of action.
The Court overruled the demurrer and offered to allow the defendants to answer, which they refused to do. Thereupon judgment was rendered upon the complaint in favor of the plaintiff for the sum demanded, and the defendants appealed. "A declaration is a specification in a methodical and legal form of the circumstances which constitute the plaintiff's cause of action." 1 Chitty, Pl. 240. Observe, that it is not to state that there is a cause of action, but the "circumstances" which constitute the cause of action. "The general requisites or qualities of a declaration are, * * * Second, that it contain a statement of all the facts necessary in point of law to sustain the action, and no more; third, that these circumstances be set forth with certainty and truth." 1 Chitty, Pl. 244. Observe again, that all the facts are to be set forth. If a declaration in debt be upon simple contract, theconsideration must be set forth with the other facts. If it be upon aspecialty, the specialty must be set *401 forth, and that imports a consideration." Chitty, Pl., 362, 363. The form of a declaration on simple contract is as follows: A B, the plaintiff in this suit * * * complains of C D, the defendant in this suit * * * for that, whereas the defendant on ______ was (537) indebted to the plaintiff in $ _______ for the price and value of goods then sold and delivered by the plaintiff to the defendant at his request, etc., or for the price and value of work then done, etc., or for money lent, etc. Arch. N. P., 297. The form of a declaration on specialty is as follows: A B, the plaintiff, etc., complains, etc. Whereas, the defendant, etc., by his certain writing obligatory sealed, with his seal, and now shown to the Court, etc., acknowledged himself to be held and firmly bound unto the plaintiff in the sum of $ ____, etc., Arch. N. P., 304. A defect in the declaration appearing on the face of it could be taken advantage of by demurrer.
It is plain therefore that under the former mode of pleading the declaration in this case is fatally defective. It states a cause of action, viz., indebtedness; but it states not one single "circumstance" or "fact" constituting the cause. But then it is said "that all the forms of pleading hereto fore existing are abolished." C. C. P., sec. 91. True, but still,all form is not abolished, for the same C. C. P., secs. 91, 92, prescribes "that the complaint shall contain a plain and concise statement of the facts constituting the cause of action without unnecessary repetition, and each material allegation shall be distinctly numbered."
Observe that in the new, as in the old form, the facts constituting the cause of action must be stated, with this addition in the new over the old, that each material fact shall be separately numbered. The object of the declaration in the old forms was to inform the defendant fully as to the facts, so that he might make his defense both by the proper pleas and by proofs, and that the jury and the Court might see what they had to try and to decide. This was not a matter of mere form, but of substance. And there has been no relaxation of the requisite in the new form, and no alteration from the old, except to require the greater particularity of separately numbering every material fact. Why require them to be numbered if they are (538) not required to be stated?
There is not in this case a single fact stated to show whether the complaint is on a simple contract for goods sold and delivered, or for work and labor, or for money lent, or for any like matter, or whether it is upon a bond or other specialty, or whether it be not for some alleged tort. The fault in the complaint seems not to have been inadvertent, for we clearly intimated it when the case was before us heretofore,
Reversed and remanded; the plaintiff to pay, and the defendants to recover costs in this Court.
PER CURIAM. Judgment accordingly.
Cited: Greensboro v. Scott,