190 P. 133 | Mont. | 1920
delivered the opinion of the court.
On October 8, 1919, an amended complaint was filed in cause No. 3299, then pending in the district court of Ravalli county, wherein M. E. Wooster is plaintiff and Henry A. Jones and others are defendants. Thereafter defendants, other than Jones, appeared by demurrer and motion to stride, and defendant Jones appeared by a general demurrer. On November 7 the plaintiff prepared and filed an affidavit, imputing bias and prejudice to Honorable R. Lee McCulloch, the presiding judge. On January 27, 1920, counsel for defendants, other than defendant Jones, filed their motion for a change of venue upon the ground that Judge McCulloch had been disqualified by the filing of plaintiff’s affidavit. On February 19, 1920,
The statutes providing for the disqualification of a district
In the fourth judicial district there are three judges, so that,
District courts are courts of record, and when the statute
The observation in State ex rel. Interstate Lumber Co. v. District Court, 54 Mont. 602, 172 Pac. 1030: “And since the court below had jurisdiction to entertain and determine the motion, error in its conclusion was not such an excess of jurisdiction as to render either certiorari or prohibition available” —was made with reference to the power of a court to change the place of trial upon the ground that the defendant resided in another county and was-served with process therein, and has no application here. The authority to change the venue on account of the disqualification of the judge for imputed bias is governed' by special statute applicable to that subject alone.
The order of which complaint is made is annulled, and the clerk of the district court of Powell county is directed to return the files of the clerk of the district court of Ravalli county.
Order annulled.