Bickford v. Boston & Lowell Railroad
Bickford v. Boston & Lowell Railroad
Opinion of the Court
afterward delivered the opinion of the Court. The only material objection to the declaration appears to be, that there is no averment that the defendants were adjudged trustees in the original process. If such an adjudication is required by the true construction of the statute of 1794, c. 65, which was in force when this suit was commenced, undoubtedly the objection is well maintained, for the declaration contains no direct averment to that effect, and it does not appear, except argumentatively, that any such adjudication has been made. But it is the opinion of the Court, that such an adjudication is not in all cases, if in any, required by the statute. The 5th section provides, that when the plaintiff shall recover judgment against the principal, and there shall be one or more trustees summoned, who shall not have come into court and discharged themselves upon oath of being trustees, as supposed in the writ, the court shall award execution against the goods, effects and credits of the principal in the hands and possession of every such trustee, as well as against the body, goods and estate of the principal. And the form of the execution conforms to this requisition of the statute. By this section the court are certainly not required to render any judgment except against the principal, and an award of execution against the goods, effects and credits in the hands of the trustee. The 6th section directs the manner in which judgment is to be rendered for or against the trustee on scire facias.
These are the only material sections which bear upon the present question, in neither of which is it required that the court shall render judgment against the trustee in the original suit. On the contrary,' they have no authority so to do, although the trustee should expressly admit that he was indebted to the principal as charged in the writ.
It is true, that when the trustee comes in on the original process, and submits to an examination, and prays to be discharged on his answers, the court is bound to decide the question whether he is entitled to a discharge, or whether he appears to be a trustee or not; but the decision of the court is an interlocutory decision not definitively binding on the
As to the objection, that the demand on the president of the defendant corporation was not sufficient, it appears to the Court, that as he was at the head of the corporation, he was the most proper person upon whom th'e sheriff should have made the demand.
Declaration adjudged good.
On the original trustee process the trustees hied answers tending to charge themselves, but not for any specified sun ; and while the scire facias was pending in this Court, the Revised Statutes went into operation. After which the trustees moved, under Revised Stat. c. 109, § 41, for leave to answer anew.
Hoar, in support of the motion, referred to Valentine v. Boston, 20 Pick. 202.
Farley and A. W. Austin, contra, insisted that the answers
delivered the opinion of the Court. On scire facias against the defendants as trustees, they come in and move to amend their answers, made by their president, in the original suit. By the Revised Statutes it is expressly provided, that on scire facias against a trustee, the court may require or permit him to be examined anew, whether he had or had not been examined in the original suit. Revised Stat. c. 109, § 41.
This motion is opposed, and it is contended that the Revised Statutes do not apply, because this suit was not only pending, but had in fact been entered in this court before the Revised Statutes were passed, and this appears by the record to be the fact, the appeal on this scire facias having been entered in October, 1834. It also appears that the trustees were examined and charged in the original suit. The objection is placed on the provision in Revised Stat. c. 146, § 5, that the repeal of former acts shall not affect any act done or right accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced, in any civil case. But the proceedings in every such case shall be conformed, when necessary, to the provisions of the Revised Statutes.
The question then is, whether there is in this case any right accrued to the plaintiff, which will be affected by the granting of the motion, or whether it is merely a step in the cause pending. The obvious purpose of the statute was to confirm existing rights, to give effect to acts done, but to regulate proceedings which were afterwards to be had. The original suit and the scire facias under the trustee process, constitute one connected and continued course of proceedings. The original judgment does nothing more than declare the trustee liable, on
On the grounds stated, the Court think it equitable that ;he motion be granted upon proper terms, as to the time of filing a further answer, and as to costs.
Motion granted.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ezra Bickford versus The Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation
- Status
- Published