Scamman v. Huff
Scamman v. Huff
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was dr.awn up by
By R. S., 1841, c. 148, § 24, and by R. S., 1857, c. 113, § 25, the examination of a poor debtor is required to be "before two disinterested justices of the peace and quorum of the county.” According to the form
It is neither shown by proof, nor by the certificate of the magistrates, that they were disinterested. That should affirmatively appear. In levies of executions the statute requires that the appraisers should be disinterested. If that be not shown by the return of the officer making the levy, it is void, Russ v. Gilman, 6 Greenl. 106; Pierce v. Strickland, 26 Maine, 277. So. hero, the records of the magistrates should show all the facts authorizing their official action. At any rate, their capacity to act should in some way be shown. It has not been done. There is no presumption in favor of the jursdiction of inferior magistrates, and, as there is no proof on the subject, we are not authorized to infer the performance of the conditions of the bond.
. If, as was probably the case, the magistrates were disinterested, their record or certificate might, perhaps, have been amended in conformity with the truth, but no motion to that effect has been made.
Defendants defaulted, to be heard in damages.
An appraisal upon the levy of an execution, is not a judicial proceeding.
The certificate of the justices, upon a poor debtor’s dis-r closure, is no part of the record. It is a paper given to the debtor, merely for his benefit. If that is insufficient, it does not follow that the proceedings were not correct, and according to the statute, and the bond.
Though required by statute, it is no more necessary for the justices to be disinterested in such a case, than in any other judicial proceeding. Pearce v. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324. But the fact that they are disinterested is not put into
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tristram Scamman versus Thomas Huff & als.
- Status
- Published