158 N.Y.S. 575 | N.Y. App. Term. | 1916
The complaint herein alleges, in substance, that the plaintiff and the defendants entered into a copartnership agreement by the terms of which the plaintiff paid to the defendants the sum of $1,000 for a one-half interest in a restaurant business situated in
Defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings, pursuant to section 88 of the Municipal Court Code, upon the ground that the complaint did not state facts
The minutes of the trial are not before us and the defendants rest solely upon the denial of the motion for judgment on the pleadings.
Both sides substantially concede that the action is one requiring the exercise of equitable powers by the court. Plaintiff rests her right to maintain such an action by virtue of section 6, subdivision 1, of the Municipal Court Code, which declares that the Municipal Court shall have jurisdiction in an action 1 ‘ to take, state and determine the account between partners after dissolution or other termination of their partnership relation, and to render judgment for the amount so found to be due, but in no event for more than one thousand dollars.”
The defendants claim that the foregoing provision is violative ■ of article 6, section 18, of the Constitution of the state, which declares that1 ‘ The Legislature shall not hereafter confer upon any inferior or local court of its creation, any equity jurisdiction or any greater jurisdiction in other respects than is conferred upon County Courts by or under this article.”
. Section 14, article 6, of the Constitution declares that “ County Courts shall have the powers and jurisdiction they now possess,” and section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure confers upon such courts special statutory powers, some of which are equitable in their nature, but it nowhere confers jurisdiction in an action requiring an accounting between partners before a judgment can be pronounced. Lake v. Sweet, 18 N. Y. Supp. 342.
The learned justice in the court below substantially
In the case of Lewkowicz v. Queen Aeroplane Co.,
In People ex rel. Swift v. Luce, 204 N. Y. 478-491, it was said: “ The legislature might create a court with the powers and jurisdiction of a police court in some insignificant village and call it the high court of chancery of that village. The name bestowed on the court would not make it a court of chancery, and equally as long as the court was really a police court, conferring upon it this grandiose title would not in any degree render the act creating it unconstitutional.
It is clear that that portion of section 6 of the Municipal Court Code which attempts to confer jurisdiction upon the Municipal Court 1 ‘ to take, stat.e and determine the account between partners after dissolu • tion or other termination of their partnership relation and render judgment for the amount so found to be due ” is within the prohibition of the Constitution of the state and cannot be enforced.
It may be, however, that the complaint is susceptible of amendment so that under it the plaintiff might be entitled to recover a judgment against the defendants, without calling upon the court to exercise any equity powers. Troster v. Dann, 83 Misc. Rep. 399.
Judgment reversed and a new trial ordered, with thirty dollars costs to appellants to abide the event.
Cohalan and Whitaker, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed and new trial ordered, with thirty dollars costs to appellants to abide event.