Pickens v. Clark
Pickens v. Clark
Opinion of the Court
Prior to Acts of 1915, p. 279, the Thirteenth district of the Southwestern chancery division was composed of Mobile and Baldwin counties; and by the provisions of said act the chancery court of Baldwin county was consolidated into the circuit court of said county. By the consolidating act above referred to it was provided:
“That all the papers, books, files and records of every kind belonging to, or on file in any court hereby consolidated into the circuit court shall be transferred to and become a part of the papers, files, books and records of the circuit court and all causes, or proceedings of every kind pending in any court hereby consolidated into the circuit court shall proceed to final judgment therein as though they had been begun in the circuit court in the first instance.” Section 3.
There was, of course, prior to this act a chancery court for Baldwin county, which was, however, for convenience, held at Mobile; and by the express provisions of the foregoing act all causes pending in said chancery court of Baldwin county were to be transferred to, and become a part of, the records and files of the circuit court of said county, which had been consolidated with said chancery court. Section 4 of the act provides for the issuance of process by the clerk or register of the circuit court as to pending causes, and for a perfect exemplification and record of said causes in the circuit court.
The bill in the present case shows that the final decree here sought to be vacated was rendered upon a bill filed against this complainant and other nonresidents concerning the quieting of title to real estate situated in Baldwin county, which suit was pending in said chancery court of said county at the time the consolidating act became effective, to wit, at midnight of January 14, 1917. Ex parte City Bank & Trust Co., 200 Ala. 440, 76 South. 372. The bill also shows that subsequent to said change a decree pro confesso was rendered by the circuit court of Mobile county, and a final decree rendered in the cause by said court on April 19, 1917.
Under the express provision of the above-cited act, the cause should have been transferred to the circuit court of Baldwin county. It must be assumed that the Legislature had cognizance of this situation, and intended precisely what they have so plainly stated in the language of the act.
“It is well settled that, where a decree, void for want of jurisdiction, has been rendered, the court rendering it possesses inherent power, and should on motion vacate said decree. It is a nullity, and the court may at any subsequent term vacate it.” Chamblee v. Cole, 128 Ala. 649, 30 South. 630; Sweeney v. Tritsch, 151 Ala. 242, 44 South. 184; Hobson Starnes Coal Co. v. Alabama Coal & Coke Co., 189 Ala. 481, 66 South. 622; Ex parte City Bank & Trust Co., supra.
*546 The demurrer was properly overruled, and the decree will be here affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PICKENS Et Al. v. CLARK
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published