34 Iowa 240 | Iowa | 1872
The mandamus proceeding set out in the answer constitutes no defense to plaintiff’s action, l. Mandamus : As there had been no adjudication of the court issuea. upon the matter of the petition and the parties’ rights involved, the issuing of the writ was unwarranted, and defendant cannot be protected under it. The
The party objecting to such a pleading ought, by proper motion, require the answer to be divided properly, or demand that the defendant elect upon which part of the double count he will stand. Rev., §§ 2903, 2934. But, omitting to do so, he may regard the defenses as though they were stated in distinct counts, and assail them by separate pleadings. The defendant would not be permitted to set up the defective form of his answer to protect it from a demurrer directed against its substance.
In the case before us the division of the answer or count containing the defense assailed by the demurrer contains another distinct defense. The demui’rer did not attack both, but only brought in question the one above stated. Under the rule just announced this is admissible. As we have seen, the defense was insufficient in law. The demurrer ought, therefore, to have been sustained.
Reversed.