132 Ind. 496 | Ind. | 1892
— The appellees petitioned the board of commissioners for the establishment and construction of a public ditch. The appellants filed what counsel denominate a remonstrance in the commissioners’ court, but that court, holding their remonstrance or motion bad, decided against them, and they appealed to the circuit court. In the circuit court the appellants filed papers which their counsel designate as
It is established law that collateral motions are not part of the record unless made so by a special order of court or brought in by a bill of exceptions. Ohio, etc., R. R. Co. v. McDaneld, 5 Ind. App. 108. See, also, authorities cited in Elliott’s Appellate Procedure, sections 190, 191 (814.) A special order is one made directly by the court, and is much more than a statement by the clerk or the mere transcription of an entry of the filing. As is ex vi termini implied in the language employed in the code, the order must be made by the court and must be specific. There is no special order in the record, so that there are no papers incorporated in it by that mode. The ruling on the papers was, of course, made during the formation of the issues, and such a ruling is not included in a general order allowing time for filing a bill of exceptions upon the ruling denying a motion for a new trial. See authorities cited in Elliott’s Appellate Procedure, section 813. Neither the papers filed in making up the issues, nor the rulings thereon, are in the record by a bill of exceptions, inasmuch as time was taken in which to file the bill upon the ruling denying a new trial. The order granted leave beyond the term, and did not even assume to include rulings made in the formation of the issues.
If the papers and rulings, upon which the appellants’ claim to a reversal is based, are in the record, it is because the papers are part of the pleadings and, as such, are parts of the intrinsic record. Whether they are direct motions or such pleadings as form part of the record proper must be determined from their general tenor and scope. We can not find
In Meranda v. Spurlin, 100 Ind. 380, the question as to the right to construct a ditch along and upon an old ditch was directly presented and expressly decided adversely to the appellants in a very clear and strong opinion written by Zollars, C. J.
The second point presented we dispose of by adjudging that where the descriptions of the tracts of land involved in the proceedings are copied, as the statute requires, from the tax duplicate, the descriptions will, prima faeie, at least, sustain an assessment for benefits accruing from the con
The fact that three of the twelve petitioners signed their Christian names by initials only does not entitle the appel-. lants to defeat the assessments.
The appellants seek to profit by the fact (which, as they assert, the record shows) that the obligors in the bond filed with the auditor are all petitioners. We regard it as clear that the remonstrance can not be given such a protean form as to make it perform the dual functions of a remonstrance and a motion to dismiss. If it be granted that the failure to file a bond with sureties is sufficient cause for dismissal in a case where there is a bond signed by the petitioners and approved by the auditor, still, there is no adequate reason for a reversal in this instance, inasmuch as the question is not properly presented. But the authorities wammt the conclusion that where there is a bond sufficient in form and substance, signed by solvent obligors and affording ample security, and taken and approved by the auditor, the proceedings will not be dismissed. Schneck v. Cobb, 107 Ind. 439.
We have given the appellants the benefit of all inferences, and in so doing have, perhaps, departed from the general rule, but even thus liberally treating their appeal, we find no valid reason for sustaining it.
Judment affirmed.