Cruser v. Duryea
Cruser v. Duryea
Opinion of the Court
The Chief Justice delivered the opinion of the court as follows:
Cornelius Cruser, brought an action against William, Duryea and Peter Yoorhees, in the court for the trial of
Prior to the statute of November, 1820, an appeal could not be made from a judgment given upon a verdict. By that statute it is enacted that from any judgment obtained before any justice of the peace, in any of the courts for the trial of small causes, upon the verdict of a jury, either party may appeal to the Court of Common Pleas of the county within the same time, in the same manner and upon the same terms, as in other cases where an appeal is granted. The language of the statute is of the most broad and comprehensive, as well as clear and explicit character. The right of appeal is- made to extend to all judgments upon verdicts. The reference of time, manner and terms to ■other cases of appeal, is directory of the mode of procedure, and not restrictive of appealable judgments to any particular class or sum. We have no warrant to introduce, by constructive interpolation, a limitation into the statute not sanctioned by its unambiguous phraseology.
The objection to the construction of this statute so plainly indicated by its words, is founded on the 36th section of the .act of February, 1818, which excepts from appeals, judgments founded upon verdicts, on reports of referees, and whore the debt, balance, demand *or other matter in [*17 ■dispute, does not exceed three dollars, and the argument is that as the present act only authorizes appeals after verdicts, the restriction as to sum remains. But the statute of J820 gives an appeal from any judgment, founded upon a verdict,
Whether an appeal ought to be given where the sum in controversy is so small, or after verdict in cases not exceeding three dollars where, by the undisturbed operation of the act of 1818, an appeal could not have been taken if there-had been no trial by jury, are subjects of legislative, not of judicial consideration.
Let a mandamus issue..
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cornelius Cruser v. William Duryea and Peter Voorilees, Overseers of the Poor, &c.
- Status
- Published