77 Va. 317 | Va. | 1883
delivered the opinion of the court.
The jury, in the special verdict which they returned, found that Cornelius E. Eilbates died intestate, and seized and possessed of the tract of land in the county of New Kent, called Marshfield, in the declaration claimed as unlawfully withheld; that the plaintiffs, Cornelius H. Fillbates, Lightfoot T. Fillbates and Mary L. Whitney, are the children and only heirs of the said Cornelius E.; that Harriet L. Eillbates, who was the mother
Now, if upon the whole facts proved, the law he for the plaintiffs, then we find upon issue joined for the plaintiffs, the premises in the declaration mentioned according to the description and boundaries in the declaration mentioned; that the plaintiffs, Cornelius H. Eillhates and Lightfoot T. Fillbates, are each entitled to one undivided third part thereof in fee, and that the plaintiffs, Stephen Whitney and Mary L. Whitney, his wife, are entitled to the other undivided third part thereof in right of the said Mary L. And if) upon the whole facts proved, the law he for the defendant, then we find upon the issue joined for the defendant, James Woodhouse.
Upon this special verdict the circuit court of New Kent entered a judgment for the plaintiffs ; and to this judgment a writ of error was awarded hy one of the judges of this court.
The record of the suit of Fillbates, administatrix, &c. v. Fill
The contention of the defendants in error, and the assumption upon which the circuit court proceeded in rendering its judgment is, that the county court had no jurisdiction to sell the real estate of infants, and therefore that the decree of sale was void, and the conveyance confers no title upon the purchaser.
Blit in this respect both the defendants in error and the circuit court are mistaken. For whilst it is admitted that the county court did not at the time these proceedings were instituted have jurisdiction of suits brought by guardians to sell the real estate of infants to promote the interests of such infants, nor of suits brought for the purpose of making partition where the shares of such infants exceeded in value the sum of $300. Yet, it not only cannot be denied, but must be conceded, that the county court did have jurisdiction to sell such real estate for the purpose of paying the debts of the ancestor from whom it descended. Va. Code, 1849, ch. 157, § 3; Va. Code, 1849, ch. 131, § 3 and 4; Va. Code, 1860, ch. 131, § 3 and 4; Va. Code, 1860, ch. 157, § 16; Rep. of Rev’s, ch. 131, § 4. And being a court of general jurisdiction for this purpose, every presumption must be made in favor of its proceedings when collaterally attacked. And unless want of jurisdiction or fraud be made conclusively to appear, its decrees will be sustained. Especially will this rule be rigidly applied whenever from the loss or destruction of any part of the record there is difficulty in discovering the grounds upon which jurisdiction has been taken in a particular case, and the danger of doing injustice is imminent. In every such case, if there be any ground upon which, the court could rightfully have taken cognizance of the case, this court will presume that it was as
Now if these principles which seem to us not only to he sound in law, hut to he justified by every dictate of policy and justice, he applied to the facts found by the special verdict, it will at once he seen that the county court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the parties, and so had jurisdiction of the case. Fisher v. Bassett, 9 Leigh, 139 ; Andrews v. Avory, 14 Gratt. 237; Freeman on Judgments, sections 118 et seq.
As we have before shown, the county court was invested hy law with a general jurisdiction in cases where real estate was to he sold for the payment of the debts of the decedent, and the special verdict shows that this was a suit for that" very purpose; that it was defended; that the land was decreed to be sold; and that the appellant, Woodhouse, is, as is conceded, a bona fide purchaser thereof. If all this he true, as it certainly is, the decrees of the county court are valid and binding until reversed on appeal, and cannot be collaterally assailed, as the effort is made to do here. Pulaski Co. v. Stuart, Buchanan & Co., 28 Gratt. 819 ; Lancaster v. Wilson, 21 Gratt. 629 ; Cox and als. v. Thomas’s administratrix, 9 Gratt. 323.
It is no doubt true, as the appellees contend, that one of the reasons which moved the county court to sell this land was, that it thought the infant defendants would be benefitted hy the substitution of the land in place of the slave property, hut that circumstance cannot affect the views we take of this case, because the paramount object for which that suit was brought,
- Any other conclusion than this, at which we have arrived, would be greatly to be deprecated. For, to adopt the language of this court in Lancaster v. Wilson, supra, “if, after the rendition of a judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction, ánd after the period has elapsed when it becomes irreversible for error, another court may, in another suit, enquire into the irregularities or errors in such judgment, there would he no end to litigation, and no fixed established rights. A judgment, though unreversed and irreversible, would no longer be a final adjudication of the rights of litigants, hut the starting point from which a new litigation would spring up; acts of limitations would become useless and nugatory; purchasers in the faith of judicial process would find no protection; every right established by a judgment would be insecure and uncertain, and a cloud would rest upon every title. For these reasons, I am of opinion that the judgment should be reversed and a judgment entered for the defendant.
The order was as follows:
This day came again the parties, by their counsel, and the court having maturely considered the transcript of the record of the judgment aforesaid and the arguments of counsel, is of opinion, for reasons stated in writing and filed with the record, that the said circuit court erred in giving a judgment upon the special verdict found by the jury in favor of the plaintiffs in the court below (the defendants in error here). It is, therefore, considered that the said judgment be reversed and annulled, and
And this court proceeding to render such judgment as the said circuit court ought to have rendered, it seems to the court that the law is for the plaintiff in error; therefore, it is considered hy the court that the defendants in error take nothing hy their hill, and that the plaintiff in error go thereof without day, and recover against the said defendants in error his costs in the said circuit court expended.
Which is ordered to be certified to the said circuit court of the county of New Kent.
JüD&MENT REVERSED.