Post v. Sheppard
Post v. Sheppard
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of this court.
This suit was instituted by Christian Sheppard, the collector of Washington county for the year 1839, against the appellants, on a deputy collector’s bond, given to him by Post, his deputy collector, for that year, with Fitzhugh as his surety. The jury having rendered a verdict for the appellee, on the issues joined on the breaches assigned in the nar, a motion in arrest of judgment was made by the appellants; to the overruling of which by the court, and the entry of the judgment on the verdict, the present appeal was taken. And the reason mainly relied upon for the reversal of the judgment is, that being a suit on a bond, with a collateral condition, the breaches assigned shew no cause of action in the plaintiff, inasmuch as they do not allege that he has been damnified, by being compelled to pay the whole, or any part of the levy imposed on Washington county, and placed in his hands for collection in the year 1839. This objection would appeal to the court with imposing force, if the bond of a deputy collector were a mere bond of indemnity, given to protect the county collector against recoveries that might be had against him on his official bond; or if the bond of the deputy simply required him to pay over,
It has been said, by the counsel of the appellants, that the bond is a nugatory act, and of no validity; its condition describing George W. Post as a deputy collector of Washington county, and there being no such officer as a deputy collector of Washington county, that he should have been described in the bond as the deputy collector of Moses Sheppard, collector of Washington county. There is nothing in this objection. Such officers have acquired that appellation in common parlance, and are much more generally known by it, than by the denomination of deputy collectors of A B, the county collector.. And the duties of a deputy collector of a county, are quite as well understood by the community, and are matters of equal notoriety.
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George W. Post and William Fitzhugh v. Christian Sheppard
- Status
- Published