18 Ga. App. 190 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1916
This was a suit upon a promissory note, brought by the St. Louis Lightning Bod Company against L. D. Johnson. The petition as originally filed commenced as follows: “ St. Louis Lightning Bod Co. v. L. D. Johnson. In the city court of Thomasville. June term, 1915. Georgia, Thomas county. To the honorable city court of Thomasville. The petition of the plaintiff as named in the caption, which is made a part hereof, respectfully
Under the foregoing statement of facts the questions which it is necessary to determine in this case are: (1) Did the following language constitute the caption of the petition: “St. Louis Lightning Eod Co. v. L. D. Johnson. In the city court of Thomasville. June term, 1915. Georgia, Thomas county/5 etc? (2) If this language did constitute the caption or title of the petition, was it a part thereof ? Unless the caption was a part of the petition, it was a nullity, since the proposed amendment was addressed to the caption only and would not have cured the defect. As to what the caption of a legal document includes, Black’s Law Dictionary contains the following: “The caption of a pleading, deposition, or other paper connected with a case in court is the heading or introductory clause which shows the name of the parties, name of the court, number of the docket or calendar,55 etc. It seems to be more or less generally recognized that a- petition must contain a title or caption (the terms being synonymous), and that the title or caption shall include the name of the court in which the case is to be tried, the county where the action is brought, and the name of the parties. See 6 Standard Bnc. Procedure, 645. The petition under consideration contained such a caption, setting forth the ñame of the parties, the court in which the suit was brought, etc. The question as to whether or not the caption was a part of the petition must be answered in the affirmative, since in the body of the peti
Erom what is above said, and especially in view of the fact that, as remarked by Judge Bleckley in Murphy v. Peabody, 63 Ga. 524, “the rule of amendment is as broad as the doctrine of universal salvation,” and that generally in this State amendments, if germane, are allowed as a matter of right, we feel constrained to hold that the trial court erred in disallowing the proffered amendment in this case, which would have cured a purely technical defect in the form of the petition. Judgment reversed.