Stewart v. Anderson
Stewart v. Anderson
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
1. The only question before the court, in this case, is the propriety of the action of the court below in discharging the garnishee, because the denial of the plaintiffs to the answer of the garnishee was not verified by affidavit. In the opinion of this court, such denial need not be on oath; the statute does not require the denial of the answer of a garnishee to be sworn to.
“ The plaintiff may deny the answer of the garnishee, in whole or in part, and the issues shall be tried as ordinary issues between plaintiffs and defendants. ” Attachment Act, 1845, section 32.
Act concerning garnishees, 1846-7, section 3 : “ When a plaintiff shall file his interrogatories to the garnishee, he shall also file a plain and distinct statement of the grounds on which he requires the garnishee to answer, and the garnishee may then plead and defend as he might do, if he were sued for the same cause, by the defendant in the action.”
Practice act, 1849, section 15, article 5 : “ Suits may be brought by attachment in the cases, and conducted in the man
■ Now the denial of the answer of the garnishee was not required by the statutes of 1845 and 1847, to be under oath ; nor can we properly assimilate it to the “ petition, answer or reply to off-sets,” under the new code of practice. This court will not, by its decision, increase the quantity of swearing in judicial proceedings, now already sufficiently extended for all practical purposes.
The judgment of the court below is erroneous, and by the concurrence of the other judges it is reversed, and the cause remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Stewart v. Anderson, Garnishee of Bloomer & Holmes
- Status
- Published