Superior Court of North Carolina, 1799

Knight v. . Knight

Superior Court of North Carolina · Decided July 5, 1799 · By the Court.

1 N.C. 163

Counsel

Plummer , for the complainant, said it had been the practice in this Court to institute such suits, without a prochein ami; that in England, the only purpose of requiring a prochein ami was that there might be some person to answer for the costs; yet, even there, the books furnished instances of the wife suing alone. 1 Eq. C., a ., 67 ; 1 Ch. Cas., 4, 64. But since the Act of Assembly in this State, requiring all persons who sue to give security for costs before the process issues, the reason of the practice in England, even if it were uniform, does not exist here. He added that such security had been actually given.

Opinion of the Court

Let the demurrer be overruled, and the defendant answer.

NOTE. — But see Ward v. Ward, 17 N.C. 553, where it was held that in suits by married women, a prochein ami is necessary, not only to secure the costs, but when her husband is defendant, to interpose a suitable adviser; and this rule is not dispensed with, even where the wife sues in forma pauperis. *Page 147

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.