1 Day 28 | Conn. | 1802
A plea in abatement ought to be with precise and strict exactness,
If the plea on this record be considered good, it allows the defendant to shew a bad writ, and exonerates him from the obligation to give the plaintiff a better ; unless the plaintiffs, in this cause, may, in their next writ, describe the co-plaintiffs in the manner, in which they are described in the plea ; which we apprehend will not be allowed: Or, it imposes on the plaintiffs the necessity of conjecturitig the persons, and places of abode, and of travelling over the country, as the case may be, in various directions, to enquire into what may, or may not, be the facts, relative to the assigns, in one class of persons, and the heirs, in the other,
It may, also, be observed, that no issue could be so joined on the averments in the plea, as to help out the defects, or enable the plaintiffs to meet the evidence in their support.
Neither the nature of the case, nor the circumstances disclosed on the record, appear sufficient to constitute an exception to the general rule, that a plea of other parceners, not joined in the suit, must contain such a description of them, as both to enable the plaintiff to meet the allegation, and to make a better writ. And we apprehend, that our practice, in all analagous cases, would be shaken, by a contrary determination.
Lut. 15. 1 Com. 65.
It is a novel idea, that it is sufficient for a defendant to plead in such a manner, as to enable the plaintiff, upon enquiry, and diligent industry, to form a better writ. The objects of such enquiry and industry are to be averred as distinctly, by the pleader, in such a case, «s in any other, or his plea is, as in all others, defective.
