Wells v. Stackhouse
Wells v. Stackhouse
Opinion of the Court
By one of the rules of practice adopted by the Common Pleas of Burlington, it is provided, that" no appeal shall he deemed or taken to be in court, until, on the application of the appellant or his attorney, a rule of the court, is made for the entry of such appeal, which rule, when made,shall
The appeal in this case, was returned to Nov. term, 1838, of the Common Pleas of Burlington, and as appears by the affidavit of Mr. Sloan, the attorney for the appellants, a rule for tiie entry of tiie appeal, was applied for by him, openly in court during. that term, and an order was then made, that the appeal should be entered. But Mr. Sloan having neglected to enter the rule or to cause it to be entered, the appeal was deemed and taken, by force of the aboverule of practice, to be nofurtherprosecuted by the appellants, and the attorney for the appellee, obtained an order at a subsequent term to prosecute the appeal bond. Ata special term in September last, of the Burlington" Pleas, and after three regular terms liad intervened, Mr. Sloan applied to tho court for leave to enter the preliminary rule, nunc pro tunc: that motion was adjourned over to'the regular term in November last, when it was refused by the court. Mr. Sloan now moved fora mandamus to the Common Pleas, commanding them to permit such rule to be entered, and thus to restore the appeal and proceed therein according to law. In my opinion this ought not to be done. To say nothing about tho lateness of the period, when the appellants applied for the restoration of the appeal, I think this is not a case in which we ought to interfere by mandamus, with the regular proceedings of tiie court below.— Whether tiie rule of practice, under which this question arises, was a necessary or convenient one, I am not prepared to say :— nor is there any occasion to express any opinion on that point. If it was not an unlawful ride, the Court of Common Pleas had a right, under the provisions of the practice act, to make it, and we ought not to interfere. I see nothing unlawful in the rule ; and the only question is, whether the Common Pleas have acted according to, or in violation of it
We have interfered by mandamus, in cases where the court below have acted contrary to, or in disregard of their own rules of practice; or have evidently misapplied them to the case; but
Fon», Dayton, and Njbvips, Justices, concurred.
White, J. absent.
Motion denied»
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.