Deaver v. Jones
Deaver v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
Where an order or judgment is made by consent it cannot be vacated or modified even at tlie term at which it is entered without the assent or acquiescence of all the parties to the action. Whether interlocutory or final such judgments are irrevocable, except with concurrence of all whose consent was requisite in the first instance, unless it appear affirmatively that their rendition has been procured by the mutual mistake of both or all the parties, or by the fraudulent practices of one or more of them. As
The idea of impeaching an order or a judgment for fraud, during the term or subsequently, involves necessarily the affirmative allegation of the existence of the fraud.. The general rule of pleading is that fraud must be alleged and proved when it is relied upon as a ground for impeaching a decree or even a deed, unless it be fraud in the factum. When, therefore, it is admitted that the verdict of the jury was not only set aside by order of the Court with the consent of both parties, but that the suggestion of granting a new trial was first made by the plaintiff, we cannot assume, upon the maxim omnia prenurntmtur rite acta, that when the Judge subsequently entered another order re-instating the verdict, despite the objection of the defendant, he acted upon testimony showing that the making of the order vacated was procured by fraud. A party to an action acquires a right to the benefits to be derived from a consent order, and cannot be deprived of such advantage against his own will, unless one of the essential prerequisites to the exercise of the power to annul it (fraud or mutual mistake) is made to
As the cause will again stand for trial we deem it proper to indicate to the parties our view of the other question which must necessarily arise again, and upon which the . decision of the main issue in a large measure depends.
We think that the deed from Russell Jones to J. Harvey Jones, dated February 9, 1883, was void for uncertainty in the description. The first five corners are stakes, with no calls for pointers that fix their location or make them anything else than imaginary points. The sixth, Tate’s corner, as we must, in passing upon the sufficiency of the description without the proof aliunde that was actually offered,
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- R. M. DEAVER v. HARVEY JONES
- Cited By
- 16 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Action to Recover Land — Practice—Consent Judgment Cannot be Vacated Except by Consent — Deeds—Description—Insufficient Description. 1. An order or judgment made by consent cannot be vacated or modified, even at the term at which it is entered, without the consent or acquiescence of all parties to the action, unless it appear affirmatively that its rendition was procured by the mutual mistake of all the parties or by fraud; therefore, 2. Whore, in the trial of an action, the verdict of a jury was set aside by consent, it was error to re-instate the verdict despite the objection of one of the parties, it not appearing affirmatively that the first order was procured by fraud. A deed showing nothing on its face which either absolutely locates or points to any extrinsic evidence from which the .beginning or any one of five succeeding corners can be ascertained is void for insufficiency of description.