86 Ga. 795 | Ga. | 1891
The jury had been charged with this ease, and had retired to their room. After they had been out all night, the defendant proposed to amend his plea of the general issue by filing a plea of the statute of limitations. Plaintiffs counsel stated that he would be surprised by the amended plea; that his client had been sent home by him before he knew of the oiler to amend the plea; that were his client present, he could testify to such facts as, in his opinion, would take the case out of the bar of the statute. The court refused to allow the plea to be filed, and this was the main ground of exception argued before us.
While we think this is the proper construction of this section of the code, we also think the section goes too far in allowing amendments. We think the right to amend ought, at least, to cease after the jury have been charged with the case and have retired to their room. It frequently works a great hardship upon the courts, at great expense to the county. I have known several instances where cases have occupied the court for days, and at the last stage of the trial one of the parties would offer an amendment which would cause the case to be continued. Besides, it is an inducement to laziness and negligence on the part of counsel.
Judgment reversed.