Patterson v. Gaston
Patterson v. Gaston
Opinion of the Court
An execution issued from the Circuit Court of Madison in favor of the plaintiff against the sheriff, and was placed in the hands of the defendant as coroner, who failed to return it as required by law. The plaintiff moved the Circuit Court for judgment against him for his default. The coroner objected to the motion by way of demurrer to the notice given him of the intended motion, and insisted that he was not liable
The only question is, whether a coroner is liable to this summary remedy to recover the penalties given by the act of 1833, for his defaults in the execution of process. By the act of 1807, (Clay’s Dig. 217,) it is provided that if a sheriff, coroner, or marshal of a corporation shall fail to return an execution that shall have come to his hands to the office from whence it issued on or before the return day thereof, it shall be lawful:for the court, on the motion of the party injured, ten days previous notice being given, to fine such officer in any sum not exceeding five dollars per month for every hundred dollars contained in the judgment or decree on which the writ issued, counting the time from the return day of the writ. The same act also imposes penalties on sheriffs and coroners for failing to pay over money collected by them, and gives a remedy by motion. By the act of 1819, (Clay’s Dig. 205-6,) different penalties are prescribed against sheriffs, die amount being increased, and the same remedy given for their recovery. This act, however, does not include coroners. By the act of 1833, (Clay’s Dig. 159,) it is enacted that the coroner shall execute all process when the sheriff is a party in interest, and perform all the duties of sheriff when from any cause he may be incompetent to act as such; he shall also be keeper of the jail when the sheriff is imprisoned ; and for failing to perform any of the duties prescribed, he shall he liable to all the penalties prescribed against sheriffs for similar defaults. This act clearly subjects coroners to the same penalty for failing to return an execution that the act of 1819 imposes on sheriffs for similar defaults, but does not prescribe the remedy by which it shall be enforced, and hence it is contended that the action of debt is the only remedy bjr which the penalty can be recovered. We are however clearly of the opinion that the penally may be recovered by motion. The remedy given by the act of 1807 against coroners has not been taken away by any subsequent act. It is true the penalty has been increased by the act of 18-33, but this act contains no repealing 'clause, and consequently only repeals so much of the act of 1807 as is inconsistent with its provisions. It is true that if the two statutes are so repugnant to each other tliat they cannot stand together, the latter will repeal the former; but as the law
Let the judgment be reversed and the cause remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PATTERSON v. GASTON
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. The penalties to which coroners are subjected by the act of 1833, for defaults in the execution of process, may be recovered in the summary mode pointed out by the act of 1807. The latter act, so far as it prescribes the remedy and mode of proceedings, is not repealed by the former.