Commonwealth for Shelton v. Hughes
Commonwealth for Shelton v. Hughes
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
These were four separate actions upon the Constable’s bond of Dickey, and his sureties, brought in the name of the Commonwealth for the use respectively of the above named persons as relators, and against Hughes and others, the sureties in the bond, the principal being dead. Demurrers to the original declarations, and to the amended declarations, where such were filed, having been sustained, and judgments thereon rendered for the defendants, the plaintiff prosecutes a writ of error in each case, and the four have been heard'together.
Each of the declarations assigns for breach, the failure to pay over money collected on execution by the deceased Constable, and it is contended that this breach is in every instance defectively stated for the want of a specific averment that the execution was directed to the deceased Constable, or to any Constable of the county of Union, in which he was an officer. But as it is alleged in each instance that the execution was issued by a Justice of the Peace of Union county, on a judgment rendered by him, and that while it was in full force it was delivered to Dickey, and received by him for collection as Constable, and was by him collected as Constable, the dates shewing that it was within the two years covered by the bond sued on, we think it is necessarily implied that the executions were in fact di
The objection that a special demand of the money collected on the executions is not averred in any of the declarations, and that some of them do not aver that the relator resided in the county so as to show that such demand was not necessary, is fully met and decided to be unavailable in the case of Wells vs The Commonwealth : (8 B. Mon., 459.) It is there expressly decided that it is not necessary to aver either a special demand, or the residence of the relator, or his agent in the county, but that as matter of excuse the Constable may plead the fact of non-residence, &c.
The allegations relating to the failure to pay over money collected on a promissory note, show with certainty that the note was received by Dickey as Constable, at a date within the two years covered by the bond — and although it is not explicitly stated that he collected the amount due on it within the same two years, this fact, if it should be deemed essential to the sufficiency of the breach, is shown with sufficient certainty by the averment that on the day of , 1844, (the bond being dated in May, 1842,) the said Dickey did, as Constable of said county, and w’hile acting as such, under the said writing, obligatory and condition aforesaid, collect and receive the full amount, &c. This breach is deemed sufficient.
The objection taken in one of the cases, that it appears from the condition of the bond that Dickey was
Wherefore, each of the declarations being, in our opinion, substantially sufficient as to each of the breaches alleged, the Court erred in sustaining each of the special demurrers. And in each case the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to overrule the said demurrers, and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.