77 Vt. 258 | Vt. | 1905
In the court below, the defendant moved to dismiss the writ because the magistrate signing the same did not enter upon it a minute of the day, month, and year when he signed it, as required by section 1993 of Vermont Statutes. To the overruling of this motion, the defendant excepted. No question is made but that the action is within the purview of this statute. Just above the magistrate’s signature fi> the writ itself are the words and figures following: “Signed and dated at Brighton in the County of Essex this 7th day of June, A. D. 1904.” This, the plaintiff contends, answers the requirements of the statute in this behalf. By V. S. 1992, “When a complaint, information, or indictment is exhibited in a case mentioned in this chapter, the clerk of the court or magistrate to whom it is exhibited shall, at the time, make a minute thereon in writing, under his official signature, of the day, month, and year when the same was exhibited;” and by section 1993, “When an action is commenced in a case mentioned in this chapter, the clerk or magistrate signing the writ shall enter upon it a minute of the day, month, and year when the same was. signed.”
Thus it is seen that in the early statutes the character of the proceedings, whether criminal or civil, made no difference. The provision was the same: the clerk of the court or magistrate at the time of the exhibiting of the indictment,, etc. or signing the writ, was required to. make a minute thereon in writing under his official signature, stating the true time when the same was exhiibted or signed, and for the same purpose, namely, that the process or proceeding might thereby show the day when it should be taken of record in computing the statutory period within which the same could be commenced.
In State v. Perkins, 58 Vt. 722, 5 Atl. 894, it was held that the minute was a substantive and material requirement of the proceedings against the respondent, which might be determinative of the prosecution, and that it was no part of the complaint itself. That case is authority here.
There is no writ until it is signed by someone having authority to issue the same, and the date is a part of- it. The prefixing of the words “signed and” toi the date, as was done in this case, is not a compliance with the statute; for thereby the magistrate signing the writ does not enter upon it in writing under his official signature a minute of the day, etc., when the same was signed. To fulfill the purposes of this requirement the minute must be made upon the perfected writ, and the official signature thereto must clearly be for that purpose, rather than to issue the writ. That this is the true construe
This being decisive of the case, the questions argued upon the demurrer are not considered.
Judgment reversed, and judgment that the writ be dismissed with costs.