Watson v. Holifield
Watson v. Holifield
Opinion of the Court
On October 6, 1954, Morgan Holifield, the appellee, was Sheriff of Jones County, Mississippi. On that date he was adjudicated in contempt of the county court of said county. There were two judgments growing out of the same state of facts and circumstances. One judgment found that Holifield was in contempt because he willfully failed and refused to obey an order of the court. He was fined $100 and ordered to be confined in the county jail for thirty days. The jail penalty was suspended upon good behavior. The other order of contempt found that Holifield was guilty of improper remarks and conduct in the presence of, and directed to, the trial judge, which conduct obstructed “judicial procedure.” For these reasons he was fined $100 and sentenced to be confined in the county jail fifteen days.
Holifield executed and filed two appearance bail bonds to the January 1955 term of the circuit court. He did not file or offer to file an appeal bond. He consciously and intentionally did not act and made no attempt of any kind or character to appeal the case from the county court because he was under the belief that, as sheriff of the county, he was a county official within the provisions of Section 1210, Miss. Code of 1942, Annotated, permitting
On December 27, 1954, the time for appealing from the foregoing judgments having expired, the county judge directed the issuance of a capias pro fine to a coroner to apprehend and take Holifield into his possession and effectuate the above contempt judgments. The coroner did take Holifield into his possession but on December 31, 1954, Holifield presented to the judge of the circuit court of said county a petition for writ of habeas corpus. The circuit judge set the date for hearing the habeas corpus as January 10, 1955, and made it returnable before the county judge.
The capias pro fine was issued on the theory that Holifield had not perfected his appeal from the contempt judgments. The habeas corpus proceeding rested upon the contention of Holifield that he had perfected his appeal from said judgments and that the appeal was then pending. On the hearing of the habeas corpus proceeding, the judge entered an order permitting Holifield to then execute appeal bonds to the circuit court from the contempt judgments in the county court. The bonds were executed.
The determining questions involved on this appeal are, first, whether Holifield had the right and power to appeal from the contempt judgments without giving bond, because he was sheriff of the county, and, if not, whether the trial judge in the habeas corpus proceeding had the power to then permit him to execute bonds and thereby effectually appeal the contempt judgments to the circuit court of the county.
We now deal with the question whether Holifield, as sheriff, could effectuate his appeal without the execution of an appeal bond. Section 1616, said Code, as applied to ordinary cases, provides: “Appeals from the county conrt shall be taken and bond given within ten days from the date of the entry of the final judgment or decree on
The state had charged two parties with the unlawful possession of whiskey. The Deputy Sheriff of Jones County had seized three and one-half cases of whiskey, claimed to belong to said defendants. The deputy sheriff
The question of the correctness of the findings and adjudications by the trial judge is not before us; the question is whether under the circumstances Holifield was relieved of giving bond by Section 1210.
In Love v. Miss. Cottonseed Products Co., 174 Miss. 697, 159 So. 96, this Court held that this section was intended to apply to persons representing governmental units under delegated authority. In this case the Superintendent of Banks, in charge of the liquidation of a bank for collection of debts due the bank, was held to have the right to appeal without giving bond.
In Cleveland State Bank v. Cotton Exchange Bank, 118 Miss. 768, 79 So. 810, the Court held that a bank which was a depository of school funds, was not
The main contention of Holifield is that the permission granted him at tbe habeas corpus trial to file bond at that time and perfect tbe appeal from tbe contempt proceedings was authorized under Section 1959, Code of 1942. It is sufficient to say that that section, by its express terms, applies only to appeals to the Supreme Court of tbe State.
The further question arises as to whether permission could be granted Holifield, after tbe time for giving appeal bond bad expired, to execute tbe two appeal bonds to tbe circuit court authorized by tbe trial judge at tbe habeas corpus bearing, under Section 1208, Miss. Code of 1942. That section reads as follows: “In all appeals and in proceedings of certiorari to tbe circuit court, tbe said court, on motion of tbe appellee or obligee, may inquire into tbe sufficiency of tbe amount of tbe bond, and of tbe security thereon, and may at any time require a new bond, or additional security, on pain of dismissal; and if any bond be defective, tbe principal therein may give a new one, which shall have tbe same effect as if given originally. ’ ’ As has already been stated, Holifield performed no act whatever in an effort to
In Humphreys v. McFarland, 48 So. 182, this Court said: “This case originated in the court of the justice of the peace. There is no bond in the record on the appeal from the justice’s court to the circuit court. We are therefore without jurisdiction, and the appeal is dismissed.” The same rule was announced in the same language in Johnson v. Marshall, 48 So. 182.
This question was discussed in J. R. Watkins Company v. Guess, et al., 196 Miss. 438, 17 So. 2d 795. In that case the effort was to appeal from a justice of the peace court to the circuit court. The judgment was against three parties. In lieu of an appeal bond one of the parties gave the justice of the peace a check for $250. The check was cashed by the circuit clerk after the transcript of the record was filed with him, and the clerk, after rendition of the judgment by the circuit court, paid the money to the drawer of the check. It was contended that the attempted appeal in this manner was a nullity and that the circuit court had no jurisdiction to grant the appeal and hear the case on its merits and should have dismissed the appeal. This Court observed that the requirements for appeals are purely statutory. It quoted the statute allowing appeals from courts of the justice of the peace and requiring bond to be given within ten days after rendition of the judgment. The Court then said the requirement as to bond is mandatory and jurisdictional, citing a number of cases. It held that the appeal before the court was a nullity. The Court then used this language: “But it is contended by appellees that the circuit court could have permitted the filing of a bond had motion been made to that effect. Section 1208, Code 1942. The provisions of that section apply where a defective or insufficient bond has been filed, or properly tendered, but not to cases where there has been no attempt to give a bond. If the section applied in the lat
In the case at bar there was no question as to the sufficiency of the bond, either as to amount thereof or sureties thereon, or of curing a defect in a bond which had been given. There was no offer or attempt to give security of any kind to effectuate the appeal.
Reversed and the habeas corpus proceeding is dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Watson, Coroner v. Holifield
- Status
- Published