Moody v. Macomber
Moody v. Macomber
Opinion of the Court
This is a motion to dismiss an appeal taken from an order overruling a general demurrer to a bill of complaint. It is claimed that by Act No. 340, Pub. Acts 1907, entitled “An act to regulate the practice on appeal in chancery cases,” the legislature has limited appeals to cases in which final decree has been passed in the circuit court in chancery. A history of the legislation upon the subject and of the decisions thereunder is briefly as follows: By chapter 176 of the Compiled Laws of 1871, being chapter 90 of the Revised Statutes of 1846, as amended, relating to courts of chancery, under the title, “Appeals to the Supreme Court,” it was provided, by section 143:
*77 “Any complainant or defendant who may think himself aggrieved by the decree or final order of a circuit court in chancery, in any cause, may appeal therefrom to the Supreme Court.”
This was followed by provisions prescribing the method of taking the appeal. It was held under this statute that an order overruling a demurrer was not a final decree or order in such sense as to entitle the defeated party to appeal. Bennett v. Nichols, 12 Mich. 22; Kirchner v. Wood, 48 Mich. 199. In 1883, by Act No. 58, this statute was amended so as to read in part as follows:
“Any complainant or defendant who may think himself aggrieved by the order overruling a general demurrer, or by the decree or final order of a circuit court in chancery in any cause, may appeal therefrom to the Supreme Court.”
No amendment in terms to this statute has been since enacted. But in 1907 by Act No. 340, entitled “An act to regulate the practice on appeal in chancery cases,” it is provided, by section 1, as follows:
“ Hereafter appeals in chancery to the Supreme Court of this State shall be taken and perfected under the provisions of this act, and not otherwise.”
By section 2 it is provided:
“Any person conceiving himself aggrieved by the decree of any court in chancery may, within forty days after the filing of the decree, claim an appeal from said decree to the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan,” etc.
It is the claim of the complainant in the present case that this statute in effect repeals the provisions of the act of 1883, and that the present law is to be construed the same as section 143 of the original act before the amendment. We think it was not the intention of the legislature to effect this result. The term “decree” is broad enough to include an order overruling a demurrer. See 16 Cyc. p. 472. It is true that such an order is not a final decree, but there is no such relation of the word “ decree”
The motion to dismiss will be denied, with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MOODY v. MACOMBER
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published