Leonard v. Sparks
Leonard v. Sparks
Opinion of the Court
A perusal of the statement of this cause will disclose that the question for solution here is that of the validity of the proceedings had in the matter of the condemnation of property for a public street; in other words, the taking of private property for public use, where such proceedings originated before an inferior tribunal of limited statutory power only. "Where such is the case, we merely assert common, learning when we say that a strict construction must be applied and that every statutory requirement must appear to have been performed in order to validate the proceedings. State ex rel. Greely v. City of St. Louis, 67 Mo. 113; Ells v. Railroad, 51 Mo. 200.
This strict and close adherence to the statutory requirement must be followed until jurisdiction be fully obtained; after having acquired jurisdiction there are doubtless some irregularities which would not subject the proceedings to collateral attack. And in this connection plaintiff made one of his principal points in argument. He contends that jurisdiction of the subject-matter was obtained by the mayor’s court upon the passage of the ordinance prescribing the limits in which private property may be benefited, and also,
But in these authorities it appears, or is assumed, •or it is shown, that the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter regardless of notice, and the distinction between jurisdiction of the subject-matter and the person is in the mind of those courts.
The case at bar belongs to a different class. It is of that class where the tribunal can only act conditionally ; where the notice required by the statute is a prerequisite to jurisdiction of the subject-matter. Wright v. Wilson, 95 Ind. 408; Doody v. Vaughn 7 Neb. 28; Van Auken v. Highway Com. 27 Mich. 414; Leavitt v. Eastman, 77 Maine, 117; Mills on Eminent Domain, sec. 95.
Notice, as prescribed by the statute, must be given before jurisdiction can by acquired to act at all in oases involving a special statutory proceeding for taking the property of the citizen for public use. Whether such notice be personal or constructive can make no difference in the principle. And, if not so given, the whole proceeding is void (at least as to the
The case last cited was a defective or irregular service, in that the publication of the notice was for a shorter period than that prescribed. The case of Morgan v. Railroad was where the notice was mailed to the wrong post office. In each, the proceedings were held void for lack of jurisdiction. In Leavitt v. Eastman, 77 Maine, 117, it is declared that, ‘‘under statute authority, all the statute requirements must be fully and strictly complied with. In the procedure, no step, however unimportant, seemingly, must be omitted, nor will the substitution of other steps, in the place of those named in the statute, be sufficient. To deprive the citizen of his property requires the whole statute, and nothing in the place of the statute. If there be' any degree in the importance of the requirements, that of notice of the intended proceedings, would be the' chief.”
In all the foregoing authorities the proceedings were held not merely erroneous, but void. Most of the cases, were a collateral attack on the proceedings, and in several there was a notice, but not of the character or for the time prescribed by the statute conferring .the jurisdiction.
But we need not confine ourselves to the investigation of cases in other states. The supreme court of this state, in our opinion, has passed upon kindred questions in accord with the foregoing views. The case of State ex rel. Greely v. City of St. Louis, 67 Mo.
II. It is, however, further insisted that, as the record of the mayor’s court recites that “the court ■adjudged that all parties have been duly notified and all persons interested duly served,” that this is an adjudication of service and conclusive in a collateral proceeding. This is not tenable. An inferior court with special limited jurisdiction will not be permitted to give itself jurisdiction by a mere recital that it had such.
Again, even if the court had been one of general common law jurisdiction, such recital would be considered in connection with the whole record, and would be held to refer to the particular service actually made as is shown by other parts of the record, and, if the-actual service shows itself to be fatally defective, there-is no presumption of any other service. Cloud v. Peirce City, 86 Mo. 357; Adams v. Cowles, 95 Mo. 501; Blodgett v. Schaeffer, 94 Mo. 652.
III. It is further insisted that on the appeal of the case before the mayor to the circuit court there is a. recital in the record of the circuit court, that: ‘‘Now-on this nineteenth day of March, 1888, come the parties-to these proceedings,” which is contended to be conclusive as to the appearance of Bouton, under the rule laid, down in Crow v. Meyersieck, 88 Mo. 411. The .rule in that case is not applicable. That was with reference to-jurisdiction over the person, and we have shown that in this case there was no jurisdiction by the mayor’s court over the subject-matter, in that, there was lacking-the essential prerequisite of statutory notice. It needs no argument to show that if there was no jurisdiction of the subject-matter by the mayor’s court, there could be-none conferred upon the circuit court by appeal, and that,[if such case comes before the circuit court, the proceedings should be dismissed. Haggard v. Railroad, 63 Mo. 302; Jist v. Loring, 60 Mo. 487.
IY. It is further insisted that, as the jury was not impaneled on the day named in the notice to Bouton but that the cause was continued to a period of more-than six days from the date of service upon him, he had the requisite six days’ notice. The charter-requires that a day and place for assessment shall be
We have been cited to the case of Bowman v. Railroad, 102 Ill. 472, a condemnation case, as sustaining the view taken by pliantiff as to the continuance curing the defect of the service and as to jurisdiction being obtained by the defective service. We are not advised as to the statutes under which the proceedings were instituted. But whatever the statute may be, the court, in announcing that strict construction need not be given in such cases and that a close adherence to the statute need not be had, is diametrically opposed to our notions of the law in such cases as it has been frequently declared by our supreme court.
The result is that the judgment should be affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
DISSENTING OPINION.
I. The question here presented for decision is whether five days’ notice to Bouton before the jury was impaneled, when he was entitled to six days’ notice under the provisions of section 2, article 7,
The provisions of said city charter, and the passage of the said ordinance gave the mayor’s court jurisdiction over the subject-matter of said condemnation proceedings. It was authorized by these concurring conditions to entertain the proceeding; without either the charter or the ordinance provisions, there was no jurisdiction to entertain the proceedings to condemn private property for the purpose of opening the street in question. To these must be added a third essential condition in order to confer the power to hear and
Here Bouton was actually and personally served with notice within the limit of the jurisdiction, but the time of the notice was less than that required by the city charter. Now, since jurisdiction is acquired by the actual and personal service of the notice, the effect of the service of the notice as to time is a defect in the acquisition of the jurisdiction, but not of the jurisdiction itself. The mode or manner of acquiring the jurisdiction is one thing, while the jurisdiction is another. The manner by which power or jurisdiction is acquired is to be distinguished from the power or jurisdiction so acquired. There is a distinction between a want of jurisdiction and a defect in obtaining jurisdiction. A party is brought within the power of the court by the service of summons or some other process issued in the suit. Prom the moment of the service of the process the court has such control over the litigant that all its subsequent proceedings, however erroneous, are not void. If there is any irregularity in the process or in the manner of the service the defendant must take
11 It is the fact of service that gives the court jurisdiction. The defendant having been summoned to appear on a day ascertained it can not be said that the court had no jurisdiction of the person so as to make its judgment a nullity. In legal compensation the court acquires jurisdiction by the proper service of process, and the defendant is in court and charged with notice of whatever action the court has taken during the pendency of the case, and if judgment has been taken prematurely against him he can only avoid it by direct proceeding in that action. Judgment can not be impeached collaterally upon that ground. The fact that the defendant has not been given all the time allowed bylaw to ansioer, after proper service of summons will not so vitiate the judgment as to render it a nullity. From the moment of the service of process the court has jurisdiction over the person.” Woodward v. Baker, 10 Ore. 491 and 493 and cases cited. “The defendant is not at liberty to treat the summons with perfect indifference.” Frazer v. Sidley, 50 Ga. 96, 102; McDaniel v. Watkins, 76 N. C. 399, 400; Sparrow v. Davidson College, 77 N. C. 35. “It is a principle to which there is no exception that a court having authority to issue process acquires jurisdiction of the person of the defendant by a personal service of that process upon him. Barnes v. Harris, 4 N. Y. 375, 376 (a case where the rule was applied to a court of special and limited jurisdiction ). It such a case it has always been held that the jurisdiction attaches from the time of service, and that if there is any objection to be made as to the regularity of the service, the defendant must appear for that purpose and make it, or institute direct proceedings to impeach the judgment.” “From the date of service
“There is an obvious distinction between a total want of service and a defective service, as to their effect in judicial proceedings. In the one case a decree or judgment is void, in the other the defective service gives the defendant actual notice of the proceeding against him, and the judgment, although erroneous, is valid until reversed, etc.” Howes on Jurisdiction, sec. 230; Penneyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714 and 724; Howes on Jurisdiction of Courts, sec. 229. From the time of service of summons, the court is deemed to have acquired jurisdiction of the person.
The fact that the defendant is not given all the time allowed by lato to plead or that he was served by some person incompetent to make valid service, or any other fact connected with the service of process on account of which the judgment by default would be reversed upon appeal or writ of error would not ordinarily make the judgment vulnerable to collateral attack. Freeman on Judgments [3 Ed.], sec. 126; Ives v. Easthaven, 48 Conn. 272.
In Ballinger v. Tarbell, 16 Iowa, 491, it was held that where the service of process in giving four days’ notice where the law required five days’ notice was, nevertheless, sufficient to support judgment of a justice of the peace. And it was there further held that the service was simply erroneous and not void. “It is not a case where there was no service at all, but where there was a defective service.” The justice erred in deciding that this service authorized him to render judgment against the defendant, but that the defendant could not question the validity of the judgment or claim to have it treated as void in a collateral proceeding. To the same effect, Haerus v. Drake, 23 Pac. Rep. 621; Dutton v. Hobson, 7 Kan. 190.
In Bowman v. Railroad, 102 Ill. 472, which was a proceeding to condemn a right of way for railway purposes where the landowner was entitled, under the statute, to ten days’ notice, the court there held that the service, though not in time for the purposes of the trial, gave the court jurisdiction of the person of the defendant. Harrington v. Wofford, 46 Miss. 31, was an appeal from a decree ordering a sale of real estate, on the ground, that it was not only erroneous but void for the want of sufficient service of process on the defendants. In the consideration of the appeal, the court say there is a very clear and obvious distinction between a total want of process and a defective service of process as to their effect in judicial proceedings. In one case the defendant has no notice at all of the suit against him. The judgment in such case is coram non judice and void. In the other case the defective service
In Isaacs v. Price, 2 Dillon’s C. C. Rep. 347, it is said “that a distinction is to be made between a case where there is no service whatever, and one which is simply defective or' irregular.” In the first case the court acquires no jurisdiction and its judgment is void, in the other case if the court to which the process is returnable adjudged the service sufficient, and renders judgment it is not void but only subject to be set aside by the court which gave it, or reversed on appeal.
Kane v. McCown, 55 Mo. 181, was a suit by attachment, where the defendant was notified by publication. The order of publication and the mode of publication were defective in not conforming to the provisions of the statute. The court there said: “Whether the order of publication is so defective that the court should not proceed to judgment, is a point decided by the court which tries the case, and its decision one way or the other is merely a matter of review in a direct proceeding to set aside the judgment. The finding or determination of fact can not be attacked collaterally, any more than any other conclusion of the court in the course of its proceeding to find judgment.” In Johnson v. Gage, 57 Mo. 160, it was said that in an attachment suit the attachment had been regularly issued, the property seized thereunder the court thereby
The notice in this ease, as has already been intimated, was found regular and sufficient. It is not to be confounded with process which is so defective as to be in substance no process, as when it does not state the place or time, when and where the defendant is required to appear and make his defense. In such case no jurisdiction is obtained over the person of the defendant, and the judgment is of no validity. Kitsmuller v. Tarbell, 16 Iowa, 492. The notice here is not obnoxious to any such objections. It seems to me that under the authorities to which I have just adverted, the notice to Bouton, though defectively and irregularly served as to the time, was sufficient to confer jurisdiction of his. person. The defect or irreg
There are two modes of obtaining jurisdiction over the person of a defendant. First, by personal service of summons, and, second, by constructive service or what is commonly designated publication of summons. The latter is substitutionary. If the substitutionary service is not made according to the requirements of the statute, it may be well doubted whether it would have any effect whatever. The difference between these cases, and those in which constructive service alone is relied on is, that personal service gives actual notice and accords with common law rule in reference to service (Howes, sec. 230), while constructive service is in derogation of common laiv and must be strictly followed. Howes, sec. 234; Stewart v. Stinger, 41 Mo. 400; Galpin v. Page, 18 Wall. 364; Chandler v. Hanna, 73 Ala. 390; Bradley v. Johnson, 46 Iowa, 68.
Service by publication does not proceed upon the idea of personal service; otherwise, in order to validate publication it would be necessary to show that the defendant actually saw it. Hawes, sec. 233. The difference between the rules which govern personal service and service by publication is very clearly and concisely set forth in Skelton v. Sackett, 91 Mo. 377, 380.
In the case of Wellshear v. Kelly, 69 Mo. 343, which was a case where the validity of a back tax proceeding, which had been commenced by publication, was questioned in a collateral action of ejectment, the back tax proceeding was in invihm, and yet the supreme court held that, while the notice by publication to the delinquent taxpayer against whose land the proceeding was directed might have been questioned
It is confidently asserted that no case can be found in this state where it is held that process actually and personally served within the territorial limits of jurisdiction does not confer jurisdiction of the person. The contrary view is supported by cases arising in proceedings to open or change public roads where the notice required by statute, section 6936, had not been put up in the township in the manner there required. These are all cases of constructive service of notice. Whitely v. Platte Co., 73 Mo. 30; Zimmerman v. Snowden, 88 Mo. 220; Dougherty v. Brown, 91 Mo. 31; Railroad v. Young, 96 Mo. 39; Fisher v. Davis, 27 Mo. App. 321.
In State ex rel. Greely v. City of St. Louis, 67 Mo. 113, the return of the marshal did not show how the notice was served or in what it consisted. The court held that the record did not show that the notice required by the statute had been given, hence there was the absence from it of a jurisdictional fact. This case decides nothing adversely to our contention. No case has been cited or found in this state where the landowner has been personally and actually served with process within the limits of jurisdiction, that the judgment of condemnation has been overthrown in a collateral proceeding on account of the defective service of the process as to time. Nor is there likely to be,
Cases arising on constructive service of notice do not come within this rule. The distinction between cases of that class and the one to which this belongs is quite apparent as has been shown. It will be seen, upon examination, that most of the cases which are relied upon in opposition to the views herein expressed, were those in which the jurisdictional question arose on account of the defect or insufficiency of the substitutionary or constructive service of notice of the proceeding. No court has held, so far as I have been able to discover, that when the landowner is actually and personally served with process, jurisdiction of the person did not thereby attach.
No case has been cited, within or without this state, having the slightest resemblance to this case, where the jurisdiction of any court or tribunal was successfully questioned in a collateral proceeding. Most of the cases cited by the plaintiff was when there had been some departure from the statutory requirements as to the mode or manner of making publication of the notice which constituted the- constructive or substitutionary service. In such cases such service was equivalent to no service of notice at all, and the party to be affected by it was not bound to pay any attention whatever to it; but in those eases where there is actual personal service of the notice, which is in due form, and served by the officer named in the statute, within the limit of jurisdiction, the party to be affected by it can not treat it as nothing, even when such service is not reasonable. The latter class of cases to which this case belongs falls within the rule of Fithian v. Monks, where the jurisdiction attaches in consequence of the service to the person.
And this is the view of the rule declared in Ellis v. Railroad, 51 Mo. 200, and kindred cases, to the effect that, in proceeding in derogation of the common law, the utmost strictness is required in order to give validity, and, unless it appears upon the face of the proceed-' ings that every essential prerequisite of the statute conferring the authority has been fully complied with, every step will be coram non judice. It must be observed in the condemnation proceedings under examination, “every essential prerequisite has been complied with.” Jurisdiction of the subject-matter is conceded, and jurisdiction of the person was acquired by actual personal service of process upon Bouton. Jurisdiction of the person, though irregularly acquired, still, as far as the validity of the proceeding can be questioned in this collateral way, is as if the jurisdiction had been in all respects regularly acquired'. The defendant relies upon the erroneous assumption that there was a want of notice. There was notice, though irregularly and defectively served. There is an obvious distinc
II. The defendant • contends that the benefits should have been assessed in the mayor’s court by a jury of six disinterested freeholders of the city; as this, does not appear to have been done, that this ousted the jurisdiction. Even if the jury did not possess the charter qualifications, • this fact would not have the effect which the- defendant suggests. The charter ofi. the city — section 6 — provides that . the cause, upon-appeal to the circuit court “shall be tried dehqvo,” .and on a trial thus had before a jury, when qualifications are impliedly admitted, this error in the proceeding in. the mayores court, if such it was, was corrected. Sedalia v. Railroad, 17 Mo. App. 105; Long v. Talley, 91 Mo. 305; Southern v. Holmes, 78 Mo. 399; Mills on Em. Dom. —.
To obtain jurisdiction of the person the court must have him served personally or constructively within its own territorial limits or he must come into court. Waples on At. & darn. 305. The record in this case affirmatively shows that Bouton appeared to the action in the circuit court. This is conclusive, as against collateral attack, unless it is contradicted by some other part of the record proper. Hahn v. Kelly, 34 Cal. 402; Reeve v. Kennedy, 43 Cal. 643.
The return of the service of the notice, which shows that he was not served the requisite number of days before he was required to appear before the mayor’s court, does not contradict the record statement that he subsequently appeared in the circuit court to the action. Crow v. Meyersieck, 88 Mo. 411.
It inevitably results from these observations that the circuit court erred in refusing to declare the law to be as asked by the plaintiff, that, “under the evidence and agreements in the case, the finding and judgment should be for the plaintiff.”
070rehearing
ON MOTION FOE EEHEABING.
A further examination of this cause discloses that, under the uniform ruling of the supreme court of this state, no jurisdiction whatever was obtained over the person of Bouton; and that the service was not merely defective, but was no service, and the judgment against him was not merely erroneous, but void. France v. Evans, 90 Mo. 74; and can be questioned collaterally. Howard v. Clark, 43 Mo. 344. So that if we concede for the moment that the jurisdiction involved by the defective service went only to the person, and not to the subject-matter, as is so earnestly urged, the case still fails, as the lack of notice to Bouton for the statutory length of time rendered the judgment against him absolutely void.
We add these additional remarks to what was said as to the recital by the record of the circuit court of, “Now on this nineteenth day of March, 1888, come the parties to these proceedings.” It should appear from the face of the record that there was jurisdiction.
This' should be plainly shown and expressed with certainty. An equivocal statement will not suffice to make out the appearance of a party not served with notice. Freeman, in his work on Judgments, section 155, says: “In all cases where the expression in the
In .the case at bar the record does not mention Bouton by name, nor is the style of the case such that the word “parties” necessarily refers to him. There were a number of parties to the cause, and it would be outside the bounds of reason to hold that the plural word “parties,” which finds its proper application to others than Bouton, necessarily includes him, when he took no part in the appeal and had no notice of the proceedings..
Motion denied.
ADDITIONAL OPINION BY
I have been unable to agree with my associates in either of the opinions expressed by them in this case. I deem the decision contrary to a number of decisions-of the supreme court.
I. The service of notice on Bouton was sufficient, to confer jurisdiction over his person for the purposes of the condemnation proceedings. Fithian v. Monks, 43 Mo. 502; Hagerman v. Sutton, 91 Mo. 519; Quayle v. Railroad, 63 Mo. 465; Griffin v. VanMeter, 53 Mo. 430.
II. Therefore the proceeding upon which the plaintiff’s cause of action is based is not open to collateral attack. Branstetter v. Reeves, 34 Mo. 318; Castleman v. Rief, 50 Mo. 583; Wellshear v. Kelly, 69 Mo. 343.
The cause and original transcript therein will, therefore, be certified and transferred to the supreme court.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.