27 Colo. 310 | Colo. | 1900
This case was originally brought in the district court of San Miguel county, and involves the right of the Colorado Iron Works to a mechanic’s lien for work, labor and materials furnished, amounting in the aggregate to upwards of $4,000, for the erection of certain mill improvements upon a mill site owned by Taylor and Leonard. The materials and work were furnished to the Alleghany Mining Company, which was in possession of the property, and erected the improvements under and in pursuance of a contract to purchase the latter. The district court rendered judgment against the mining company for the amount claimed, but denied appellee’s right to a lien against the property of appellants, and rendered judgment in their favor for costs. On appeal 'to the court of appeals the judgment of the district court was
Counsel for the respective parties have discussed this motion upon the theory that the judgment of the court of appeals is the criterion by which our jurisdiction is to be determined; and have devoted their entire arguments to the question of whether or not that judgment was in effect a judgment for more than $2,500, exclusive of costs, and therefore appeal-able to this court under section 1 of the court of appeals act (Session Laws, 1891, p. 118), or one that merely established a mechanic’s lien against the property of appellants, and, therefore, not within our appellate jurisdiction. In our opinion, such an inquiry is entirely unnecessary, since it is clear, from the express terms of that act, that our appellate jurisdiction depends upon the character of the judgment rendered by the district court, and whether an appeal would lie to this court from that judgment in the first instance. Section 1 provides:
“No writ of error from, or appeal to, the supreme court shall lie to review the final judgment of any inferior court, unless the judgment * * * exceeds two thousand five hundred dollars exclusive of costs. Provided, This limitation shall not apply where the matter in controversy relates to a franchise or freehold, nor where the construction of a provision of the constitution of the state or of the United States is necessary to the determination of a ease.”
Section 15, inter alia, enacts:
“ Writs of error from, or appeals to, the supreme court shall lie to review every final judgment of the court of appeals in cases which, under this act, might have been taken for review to the supreme court in the first instance.”
It will be seen that the judgment rendered by the district