State v. Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County
State v. Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County
Opinion of the Court
The prayer of the petition is’that a writ of mandamus shall issue directed to the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, requiring them to set aside the summons for a jury, and to consider and determine the issues presented by the petition in error originally filed in that court.
We are of opinion that the writ should be denied. It is to be awarded only where the act is specially enjoined as a duty resulting from an office, trust or station, and is not to be issued to control discretion. Especially is it not to be awarded in the absence of a showing of a clear right.
The power as well as duly lodged in the court of common pleas, in passing on an error proceeding from the probate court in an appropriation case, is defined by Section 6438, Revised Statutes, which provides that:
“If the court of common pleas, upon the hearing of the cause * * * reverse such judgment, it shall retain the cause for trial and final judgment as in other cases.”
The natural, and we think necessary, implication from this language is that the judgment of reversal is not a final judgment to which error will lie. This for the reason that the party
It is contended, however, that the action of this court in reversing the judgment of the court of common pleas, as expressed in the journal entry and mandate,- completely extinguished the judgment of the court of common pleas and left the case in that court to be proceeded with as an error case. This does not follow. It is true that this court orders and adjudges “that the judgment of the court of common pleas be and the same is hereby reversed.” The judgment referred to, however, naturally and necessarily means the judgment which the party complaining had the right to ask to have reviewed, and that was the final judgment rendered by the court of common pleas, viz., the judgment dismissing the petition. That this was the understanding of this court at the time is shown by the language which follows, viz.: It is furthered ordered ánd adjudged that this cause be remanded to the court- of common pleas for further proceedings in accordance with opinion herein. ’ ’ Recurring to the opinion, it is shown that the cause is “remanded to the court of common pleas for trial as provided by law;” and the provision of law is found in the statute. Had this court intended to direct a re-hearing of the error case it would have said so. This understanding is further shown by the fact, evidenced by the opinion, that this court did not undertake to deal in any wdse with the judgment of the probate court. It neither sought to affirm it or to reverse it. We need not now inquire the reason why. It is enough to state the fact. It was treated
It is true that the reasons given for and the grounds upon which the court put its reversal of the judgment of the probate court were in part the same reasons and grounds upon which the court put its reversal of the judgment of the pro-probably, is the cause of the apparent confusion which has arisen. . That is, the common pleas found that the probate court erred in finding that the taking of the premises was necessary, and it also found, on its own further hearing, that there is no right or necessity on the part of the corporation for the appropriation, and hence dismissed the petition. It is inferred by counsel from this that the judgment of reversal of this court was aimed at the findings. But it ought to be plain that, as a general proposition, the grounds of which a judgment of reversal is placed are not the subject of review. It is the judgment, when it is reviewable at all, that may be the subject of reversal. In legal effect the common pleas judgment of reversal would have been just as conclusive had no ground been stated. The judgment may be entirely sound and the grounds upon which'it is sought to be placed wholly erroneous. But this view of the case becomes of less importance when it is noted that the finding as to the preliminary inquiry was not the sole ground of reversal by the common pleas. It was founded as well upon alleged error “in overruling the motion of plaintiffs in error to set aside the verdict of the jury, and for new trial.” Among the grounds for new trial alleged in the motion are error in the admission and exclusion of testimony;
By a supplemental brief by the relator it is further insisted that the court of common pleas in its reversal of the probate court passed only upon jurisdictional questions, and that, after finding against the corporation on these questions, the court could not assume jurisdiction for the purpose of adjudicating questions which arose upon the trial to the jury in the probate court. The answer- to this is implied in what has preceded, but we may add that, while at first blush this is a plausible proposition, with due respect we are clearly of opinion that it is not sound. Apparently it rests upon the assumption that the proceeding in the probate court was divided into integral and distinct parts. It was not. It was one case. The use of the term “jurisdictional,” in this connection, is at least misleading. All the parties having been brought into court by proper process and the subject matter of the controversy being within the cognizance of the court by authority of the statute, that court was clothed with complete jurisdiction of the whole controversy, and it was not deprived of jurisdiction at any stage of the procedure, nor could it be. Its judgment rendered therein upon hearing, or hearing and trial, would be conclusive, and would finally settle the entire controversy unless carried higher. The question of the right to appropriate on the part of the corporation was a mixed question of law and fact, and the right to a preliminary order would depend on the evidence., A finding by a higher court that the probate court had erred as to the admission or legal effect of evidence did not in any degree affect the jurisdiction of that court or of the court of common pleas, and there would not be the slightest irregularity in the latter court, after reaching that result, going forward and considering the other assignments brought before it by the petition in error. Indeed, its duty (eomformably with the spirit of Section 6709, Revised Statutes), would not be fully
The foregoing disposes also of the second proposition of the supplemental brief, viz, that “when the common pleas found against the corporation on ‘the jurisdictional questions, the procedure was controlled by the general provisions of the code, and not by Section 6438.” As already stated, there was no jurisdictional question involved in any sense that makes the matter of jurisdiction pertinent here. We have not overlooked the case of A. & O. R. R. Co. v. Sullivant, 5 Ohio St., 276, relied upon by counsel. It is there held that where, in an appropriation case, the probate court has held that there had not been sufficient proof of organization in compliance with the requirements of the law and dismissed the proceeding, the review of such a judgment might be had in the Supreme Court. Certainly. The corporation might have taken its case to the common pleas by certiorari. It chose to bring it directly to this court. And the court, having undoubted power to do so, entertained it, affirming the judgment. We fail to see how a ruling in .a case brought directly to this court, challenging a final judgment of the probate court, in any wise affects a question relating to a judgment of the common pleas, reversing the probate court, which judgment was in legal effect, as we have already found, interlocutory only. The judgment in the Sul-livant case was a final judgment of the probate court which was unaffected by Section 6438; we are concerned with a judgment of the common pleas which was not final, and which is controlled by the above section. We think the argument is in no manner advanced by the ruling in the Sullivant case. The same may be said respecting the late case of Railway Co. v. Cable Co., 68 Ohio St., 306, also cited by counsel. The doctrine of these cases had pertinency as applied to the error case when in this court, but we fail to see its application to the present proceeding in mandamus.
It must be apparent, if we are correct in the conclusions already stated, that no case is made for a peremptory writ of mandamus. The record not only fails to show a clear right to
Writ refused.-
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.