Appellate Court of Illinois, 1896

Cahill v. McGrath

Cahill v. McGrath
Appellate Court of Illinois · Decided November 30, 1896 · Waterman
67 Ill. App. 103; 1896 Ill. App. LEXIS 22

Cahill v. McGrath

Opinion of the Court

Mr. Justice Waterman

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The entry in the docket of the justice has none of the elements of a confession of judgment. For a defendant to acknowledge before a justice of the peace, or other court, that he is indebted to the plaintiff in a certain sum, is not to confess or consent to judgment.

A judgment is always the result of a decision by a court, and is entered against a party nolens volens, or because he consents to—confesses—judgment.

There is a manifest and wide distinction between confessing an indebtedness and confessing judgment. Goddard v. Fischer, 23 Ill. App. 365; Campbell v. Randolph, 13 Ill. 313; Elliott v. Daiber, 42 Ill. 467.

The judgment of the Circuit Court is reversed and the cause remanded.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.