25 S.E. 875 | N.C. | 1896
"That this cause was called for trial on Saturday of the Fall Term of Onslow Superior Court, being the last Saturday of the term.
"That the verdict in this cause entered on the Minutes of the Fall Term, was returned and received between the hours of 2 a. m. and 3 a. m. on Sunday. *161
"That the judgment, purporting to be a final judgment, rendered in this cause and appearing on the Minutes of said term, was rendered between the hours of 2 a. m. and 3 a. m. on said Sunday.
"That the said verdict and judgment appear on the Minutes of the said term as having been returned and rendered on Saturday.
"That the defendant did not consent to but objected to the (275) reception of the verdict and rendition of judgment, contending that the term had expired."
"After hearing argument of counsel for the plaintiffs and the defendant, the court was of the opinion that the said Fall Term expired on Saturday night at 12 o'clock, prior to the return of the verdict and rendition of the judgment.
"It was therefore ordered `that the Minutes of the said Fall Term be amended, nunc pro tunc, so as to show the facts, viz: That the said verdict was returned and the said judgment rendered on the said Sunday, 10 November, 1895.
"It is considered and adjudged: That the said verdict and judgment are void, and it is ordered that this cause be placed on the Civil Issue Docket for trial."
The facts so found were not controverted, but were admitted by plaintiffs to be correct.
To the order on such facts the plaintiffs duly excepted and appealed.
The Code, section 910, and the act substituted for it (Laws 1885, ch. 180) and the several amendatory statutes, provide for courts to begin on a certain Monday named, and to last for one "week" (or two or three weeks, as the case may be). Of course in such cases the term, if for one week, beginning on Monday, embraces the following Sunday, unless the court is sooner adjourned; if for two weeks, it embraces two Sundays, unless adjourned earlier, as is usual. In the present case the term prescribed for Onslow Superior Court began on the 9th Monday after the 1st Monday in September, (which was the first Monday in November), "to continue in session one week. . . . (276) unless the business shall be sooner disposed of." The term legally expired, therefore, at midnight Sunday, unless in point of fact the court had adjourned earlier, and the reception of the verdict on Sunday was legal, as has been repeatedly held. S. v. Ricketts,
REVERSED.
Cited: Rodman v. Robinson,