68 Pa. 471 | Pa. | 1871
The opinion of the court was delivered,
The 1st assignment of error is to the order of the court- below, adding the name of Dennis Cretin as a defendant in the action. This order was made after a rule on the said Dennis Cretin to show cause why he should not be made a party to the record as co-defendant with William Reber. This rule was granted on the 25th day of April 1870, returnable on or before the first Monday of June following. A certified copy of it was placed in the hands of the sheriff of the county, who returned on oath that on the 12th day of May 1870 he had served it personally on Dennis Cretin by giving him a true copy of “this writ,” and made known the purport thereof. On
The 2d error assigned is to the admission in evidence of the certified copy of the record of the judgment declared on. The first reason given, that the certificate of the clerk does not state that it is a full and complete copy of the whole record and of all proceedings, has not been pressed. The certificate is, that “ the foregoing copy of record is truly taken and correctly copied from the records of judgments of said court remaining in my office.” It is to be presumed, under such certificate, that it is a copy of the whole record, according to the cases of Edmiston v. Schwartz, 18 S. & R. 135; Voris v. Smith, Id. 334; Harper v. Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank, 7 W. & S. 204; Clark v. Depew, 1 Casey 509; Eberts v. Eberts, 5 P. F. Smith 110. The second objection was, “because the record shows that the proceedings commenced before a justice of the peace, and an appeal taken by one of the defendants, without saying which one.” Without pausing to inquire whether this would be a valid objection to the record, if it was true, it is founded upon a mistake of fact. The recital of the record is; that “ the said Dennis Cretin and William Reber intends to appeal,” and although it proceeds to use the word appellant in the singular number, that is evidently a clerical error as much as the singular of the verb “intend.” The third objection
The 3d assignment of error is, that the learned judge below erred in answering in the negative the defendants’ point — which was in substance that the record did not show a personal service of process upon the defendants, and that therefore the pdea to the jurisdiction of the court, filed in the case under the Act of April 15th 1851, Pamph. L. 614, was good, and must be sustained. The whole object of the 9th and 10th sections of that Act of Assembly was to provide for the case of an attempt to make a resident of this state party to a suit in another state by the service of notice or process upon him in this state. The 9th section provides that “ it shall be competent and lawful for a defendant in any action of debt upon a judgment of a court of another state, for maintaining a plea in bar to said action, to prove the service of the notice or process by which the original action was made on him in this state.” The 10th section was intended merely to provide that if the record on its face, where there was personal service, did not show that it was made in such foreign state, it should be sufficient to maintain the plea to the jurisdiction. It surely did not mean to say that where a service was made by leaving a copy at the residence of the defendant, or where there was a voluntary appearance either in person or by attorney, the plea to the jurisdiction should be thereby maintained.” Perhaps there was no occasion for the act. It seems to have been passed ex majori cautela. Such personal service out of the jurisdiction of the court in which the judgment was rendered, clearly would not give jurisdiction. All the authorities concur in this. “ No sovereignty,” says Mr. Justice Story, “ can extend its process beyond its own territorial limits to subject other persons or property to its judicial decisions. Every exertion of authority beyond these limits is a mere nullity, and incapable of binding such persons or property in other tribunals:” Story on Conf. ch. 14, § 539. To
The 5th assignment of error is, that the issue of nul tiel record was tried by the jury instead of the court. But this does not appear. The swearing of the jury having been generally to try the issue, is to be referred to such issue as they were competent to try. Surely, if there were a general demurrer pending, it could not be considered that they were sworn to try that. Pending issues, of law maybe decided either before or after a verdict upon issues of fact. It is within the discretion of the court, and the practice has varied. It is perhaps most advisable that they shall be disposed of first, for that may save the necessity of a jury trial. Here the general judgment by the court was necessarily a judgment upon the issue of law raised by the plea of -nul tiel record.
Judgment affirmed.