19 Kan. 218 | Kan. | 1877
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This actipn was originally brought by "Waite before a justice of the peace. The parties appeared before the justice on the 18th of August 1874, and on that day the trial was had and concluded, and the justice held the case under advisement until the 22d of that month. On the day last mentioned the justice rendered and entered judgment in said action in favor of Waite. Stewart filed a petition in error in the district court asking that the judgment of the .justice be reversed, assigning as error, that said judgment had been both rendered and entered one day later than the fourth day after the day on which the cause had been tried by the justice, both days inclusive. At the September term of the district court, on motion of counsel for Waite, the court dismissed the petition in error, on the ground, that the judgment of the justice was void, and rendered judgment against Stewart for costs.
It is insisted on the part of the plaintiff in error that the district court erred in dismissing the petition in error, and in not reversing the judgment of the justice for the reason that said judgment was erroneous, in that it was both rendered and entered by the justice subsequent to the time within which it should have been entered in compliance with the requirement of the statute. Sec. 115, ch. 81, of Gen. Stat. reads as follows:
“Upon a verdict, the justice must immediately render judgment accordingly. When the trial is by the justice, judgment must be rendered immediately after the close of the trial, if the defendant has been arrested, or his property attached. In other cases it must be entered either at the close of the trial, or, if the justice then desires further time to consider, on or by the fourth day thereafter, both days inclusive.”
We think the plaintiff in error is right in his construction
The judgment of the district court will be reversed, and the case remanded with instructions to sustain the petition in error filed therein, and to reverse the judgment of the justice.