268 Mass. 403 | Mass. | 1929
These are two actions, each against, the
The single question is whether, in these circumstances, the plaintiff can recover the value of the merchandise replevied. Stated differently and more accurately, the question is whether these facts show a breach of the condition of the bond.
The replevin cases have gone to judgment. In replevin the entry of judgment for defendant without more is in law a proper judgment provided it is required by the facts. On its face there is nothing illegal or incomplete about such a judgment. It is final. It requires no further action by the court. It needs no elucidation. Whitwell v. Wells, 24 Pick. 25, 32, 33. Standard Varnish Works v. Cushing, 202 Mass. 576, 583-584. A simple final judgment for the defendant in replevin, without more, carries in law no implication for return of the property or for the payment of damages. If the court intended any result of that nature, it must appear in the judgment. The implication from the absence of any such order is that neither an order for return of the property nor an assessment of damages was intended.
The expressions in Carroll v. Berger, 255 Mass. 132, and Sullivan v. Martinelli, 261 Mass. 261, upon which the plaintiff relies, have no relevancy to the facts here disclosed and áre not inconsistent with the propositions here declared. Sentences cannot rightly be detached from any opinion and stretched to other circumstances with a different context for which they were not intended. Swan v. Justices of the Superior Court, 222 Mass. 542, 545. In Carroll v. Berger the entry of judgment for the defendant in replevin was shown by examination of the record to have been made because of want of jurisdiction in the court to entertain the action. In appropriate cases the grounds of a judgment may be shown by evidence outside the record in order to do justice between parties. Newburyport Institution for Savings v. Puffer, 201 Mass. 41, 49. United Shoe Machinery Corp. v. United States, 258 U. S. 451, 458, 459. No question of that sort is
It follows that the plaintiff fails to show any breach of the condition of the bond on the part of either of the principal defendants except failure to pay the costs in the replevin actions. Each principal defendant prosecuted the “action of replevin to final judgment.” There has been no failure on the part of either principal defendant to return the property replevied because there was no order for such return. The only condition in the bond not fully performed is the payment of the costs to the defendant in replevin.
Every question argued has been discussed. No argument put forward in behalf of the plaintiff shows any error in the order of the Appellate Division.
In each case the entry may be,
• Order of Appellate Division affirmed.