115 Ky. 27 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1903
Opinion or the court by
Reversing.
;Tkis action was instituted in the Bath circuit court by the ■appellant, AY. R. Stephens, to recover damages of the appellees, Charles AVilson, J. M. Atchison, and S. C. Bascom, Jr., for false imprisonment. The petition states that: “On the áth day of December, 1901, the defendants Charles AVilson and J. M. Atchison, in Bath county, Kentucky, wrongfully, and without authority of law, and against his will and consent, advised, requested, and caused their codefendant, S. C. Bascom, Jr., to assault and forcibly arrest and take into custody and imprison the plaintiff [appellant], W. R. Stephens, and that said S. C. Bascom, Jr., did on said day, in the town of Salt Lick, Bath county, Kentucky, against appellant’s will and consent, wrongfully, and without authority of law, assault and forcibly arrest and take the plaintiff [appellant] into his custody, and imprisoned him, and
Appellees contend that this case should be affirmed, because the first paragraphs of the answers traverse the material allegations of the petition, and therefore it was in
“Sec. 1833. Each county in the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall have a fiscal court, which shall consist of the judge of the county court and the justices of the peace of said county, and their successors in office, in which court the judge of the county court shall preside, if present. If said judge is not present, and can not preside, then a majority of the justices of the peace shall elect one of their number to preside; said justice so elected to act as judge of said court during the absence or inability of the county judge to preside. . . .
“Sec. 1831. Unless otherwise provided by law, the corporate, powers of the several counties of this State shall be exercised by the fiscal courts thereof respectively.”
“Sec. 1836. The county judge shall be the presiding judge*33 •of the fiscal court, preserve order, and may fine and imprison for contempt of court, the same as when presiding as judge of the county court; and in the absence of the county judge, or when he can not preside, the justice elected in his stead while sitting shall have the same powers as the judge of the county court when presiding as a member of the fiscal court.
“Sec. 1837. Not less than a majority of the members of the fiscal court shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and no proposition shall be adopted, unless by a concurrence of at least a majority of the court present.
“Sec. 1838. The fiscal court shall be a court of record, and shall hold two regular terms in each year, commencing on the first Tuesday of April and October, and continue until the business of the court is disposed of. But the county court of any county may, by an order of record, fix a different date for the commencement of said terms: provided that one of said terms shall be held in October. The county' judge shall have the power to call a special term of said court for the transaction of any business of which the court has jurisdiction. Whenever the necessity exists for a special session, and when the connty judge .is unable to act, the special session may be called by a majority of the court.”
This court, in the case of Bath County, by, etc., v. Daugherty, Com’r, etc., 113 Ky., 518, 24 R., 350, 68 S. W., 436, held that the fiscal court of Bath county consisted of . six members, and that three did not constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The case cited had under consideration the same meeting of the fiscal court of Bath county which is now under discussion, it having come up upon another question, growing out of the acts of the minority. The
“Sec. 1. The county judge in each county shall hold the county court on the days prescribed by law; but at the court of claims, which shall be held once in each year, the justices of peace of the county shall be associated with him and constitute the court; a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; which shall be confined to laying the county levy, appropriating money, and transacting other financial business of the county.”
“Sec. 8. The justices of the peace may be summoned by the county judge to attend at any term of the court, and as many as attend upon such summons, or at the regular court of claims, and assist in transacting business in court, shall be allowed three dollars each per day, to be paid out of the county levy. If a majority of the justices fail to attend the court of claims op any other court for which they have been summoned, the court may be adjourned from day to day until a quorum is attained; for which purpose attachments may be issued against those delinquent.”
It does not require 'any argument to show that the provision for enforcing the attendance of the justices, by attachment, on sessions of the court of. claims, has no application to the fiscal court, which is created by a different statute,;
This court, in the case of Revill, Stribling, Foster & Martin v. Pettit, 3 Metc., 314, said: “The general principle which exempts judicial officers of all grades from answering in a private action for any judgment given in the due course of the administration of justice is well settled. This court has frequently decided that no action can be supported against any person acting judicially within the limit of his jurisdiction, although he should act illegally or erroneously, unless he has acted from impure or corrupt motives. There are, then, two distinct classes of cases to which this principle of judicial protection does not apply: First, where a person having a special or limited judicial authority does any act beyond the scope of his authority; and, secondly, where, although acting within the limit of his jurisdiction, he is actuated by malicious or corrupt motives. In either case the judge or magistrate renders himself liable as a trespasser to the party injured.” Again, the court, in the case cited, said: “If, as said in the case of Cable v. Cooper, 15 Johns., 157, ‘every tribunal proceeding under special and limited powers decides at its peril,’ it must necessarily follow that any person aiding, advising, or procuring the tribunal to
Wherefore the case is reversed for proceedings- consistent with this opinion.