Thompson v. Evans
Thompson v. Evans
Opinion of the Court
In Gregg v. Hinson, et al. 9 Port. R. 631, it was determined that the county court had appellate jurisdiction of a case of the trial of the right of property before a justice of the peace. But in Cullum v. Smith & Conklin, 6 Ala. Rep. 625, it was held, that the circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction of all claims interposed by third persons, to property levied on by execution, whether the execution issues from that, or some other court. In respect to both these decisions, it may be enough to remark, that they were
The eleventh section of the act of 1833. “concerning attachments,” [Clay’s Dig. 57,] among other things, enacts, that the goods, money and effects attached, shall remain in the custody of the officer levying the process, unless the defendant, his agent, or some other person replevy the same by .giving bond, &c. ; or unless claim be made to the property levied on,.and bond given to try the right thereto “as mother cases, on which the same proceedings may be had as in trials of the right of property taken by virtue of a fieri facias : in which cases the officer shall suffer the property to remain in the possession, and at the risk of the defendant or claimant. And the said replevin bonds, or bonds for the trial of the right of property, shall be lodged with the clerk or justice where the attachment is returnable and should any such bond be forfeited according to its conditions, the officer taking the same shall forthwith enter thereon the necessary indorsement of forfeiture, and the clerk or justice shall imme-** diately issue execution on the same, against all the obligors therein; which duties of clerks and other officers, shall be performed under all the penalties, &c.”
Justices of the peace are expressly authorized to proceed with the trial of the right of property, in cases originating before them, and the circuit and county courts are invested with appellate jurisdiction. And the acts of 1812 and 1828, which provide for such trials where a fieri facias is levied on personal property, confer jurisdiction on the circuit court, and by necessary implication, exclude the interference of the county court.
The trial of the right of property, where the levy was made by the initiatory process, may be regarded as between the plaintiff and defendant, in some sense, a part of the principal cause. If the property in controversy was all that was levied on, that suit could not progress until it was ascertained byaverdictand judgment, thatthe defendant had such an interest therein as was subject to his debts. But where the claim is interposed upon the levy of afi.fa,, the trial is consequential to the judgment, and whatever be the result, the judgment will remain unimpaired. The connection then, between the
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THOMPSON, guardian v. EVANS
- Status
- Published