2 Watts 91 | Pa. | 1833
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
An amendment will not be permitted so as to make an appeal for all the defendants, on parol, testimony that it was the intention to appeal for all. Hartman v. Stahl, 2 Penns. Rep. 223. In the case at bar, Sterrett Ramsay supposed he was appealing as well for his co-defendant as himself. This may be conceded, and it may also be granted that William Ramsay intended the appeal should be so entered. It still amounts to an intention not carried into effect; and nothing more; and is not stronger in principle than Hartman v. Stahl. There is nothing, except the parol testimony, which shows, either directly or by inference, that William Ramsay was dissatisfied with the award. If fraud, or a clear mistake on the part of the prothonotary or his clerk had been proved, a different case would be presented. Mr M’Coy, after testifying to the fact that William Ramsay requested him to become his security in an appeal which he intended to take, that he was going from home, and that Sterrett Ramsay would appeal for both, states that he does not recollect whether he read the recognizance or not, nor that any thing was said about the appeal being entered for both defendants. The clerk swears, that Sterrett Ramsay and Robert M’Coy came into the office, and that Ramsay told him he wanted to enter an appeal, but did not say he wanted to appeal for both defendants. He further says, that when a defendant wishes to enter an appeal for both defendants, it is the practice in the office so to enter it; and that if he had been directed to enter an appeal for both, he would have done so. In this he is supported by the prothonotary, who also deposes, that he drew the recognizance and affidavit at the instance of Sterrett Ramsay. That he would have drawn the recognizance and affidavit differently, had he been informed that both defendants intended to appeal. The mistake then, if any, was the mistake of Sterrett Ramsay. Nor is this contradicted by Sterrett Ramsay, who was examined as a witness. He does not undertake to say, that he informed either the prothonotary or his clerk that he had authority and intended to appeal for both defendants. All he recollects is, that he asked the clerk at the time, if the appeal as entered would do for both defendants, and was answered that it would. When it is recollected that no person remembers this but Sterrett Ramsay, one of the defendants, and that the evidence of the other witnesses is irreconcilable with this state of facts; the testimony is too loose and unsatisfactory to be the foundation of an amendment. No case of the kind can be shown; if amendments are permitted on such grounds, so as to meet the fancied justice of a particular case, a laxity of practice would be the consequence, very
The plaintiffs issued a fieri facias to the August term 1825, against William Ramsay, pending the appeal entered by Sterrett Ramsay. This was clearly erroneous. Until the appeal is disposed of, no pro
Judgment reversed, and a venire de novo.