Tumulty v. Jordan
Tumulty v. Jordan
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The prosecutrix brings this writ to test-the validity of a judgment rendered against her and the-Thomas J. Stewart Company, in favor of the defendant in. certiorari, in the First District-Court of Jersey City. The;
The prosecutrix asks a reversal upon several grounds, set forth in the reasons filed. But we deem it unnecessary to examine the questions thus raised, because we find substantial and fatal defects in the judgment and proceedings.
The certificate of the facts, made by the judge in answer to a rule of this court, sets forth that he finds that the plaintiff was, at the time of the issuing of the writ, entitled to the possession of the goods enumerated in the writ, except the
The situation thus developed makes it manifest that the judgment in this case, which must have the same particularity as a verdict, is vitally defective. The judgment could not be rendered for debt, because the statute (Pamph. L. 1898, p. 604, § 125) enacts that if the plaintiff recover, the court or the jury shall find the value of the goods, as well as the damages of the plaintiff, and that “plaintiff shall have judgment thereon in damages as well for the value of the goods and chattels as for taking and detaining them.” The action of replevin sounds in tort, and is similar in character to the actions of trespass and trover, so that the verdict would naturally be damages, and not debt. Cobbey Replevin 18.
The other and more serious defect in the judgment is that the transcript fails to show the finding as to the title of the goods and the value of those belonging to the plaintiff. This should show the particular goods found to belong to the respective parties. Cobbey Replevin 1056, 1086, 1147.
There is a further defect, in that the judgment for value appears to include all the goods found to be the plaintiff’s, not excepting those found not to have been in the possession of the defendants.
We therefore conclude that the judgment should be reversed, with costs, and the record remitted for a rehearing, pursuant to section 92 of the District Court act. Pamph. L. 1898, p. 593.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.