State ex rel. Kriss v. Richards
State ex rel. Kriss v. Richards
Opinion of the Court
The remedy invoked is an extraordinary one, to be issued with great caution, and only when the way is quite clear. It is said that the writ of prohibition is a high prerogative writ, to be used with great caution in the furtherance of justice, and only where there is no regular, ordinary, adequate remedy at hand. State, ex rel. Nolan, v. ClenDening et al., 93 Ohio St., 264.
“The proper function of the writ of prohibition is to restrain inferior courts and tribunals from exceeding their jurisdiction and to confine them to the exercise of .those powers legally conferred. It is not an appropriate remedy for the correction of errors, and does not lie to prevent an erroneous decision in a case which the court is authorized to adjudicate.”
And, again, the supreme court has announced the law in the case of State, ex rel. Garrison, v. Brough et al., 94 Ohio St, 115:
“The power to award writs of prohibition having been conferred on this court by the constitution, and that instrument having provided that no law shall be passed or rule made whereby any person shall be prevented from invoking the original jurisdiction of this court, the power will always be exercised where it clearly appears that a court or tribunal whose action is sought to be prohibited has no jurisdiction of the cause or is about to exceed its jurisdiction.”
Thus it may be seen that the law in Ohio is rather fully and definitely settled by recent decisions of this court. It remains only to apply the law to this case.
Under the old axiom, the journal of a court of general jurisdiction imports absolute verity. The journal of the court of common pleas shows a judgment entered March 16 and another judgment, identical in terms, on April 2. We are asked in this
It may not be assumed what the trial judge will do in respect to correcting the journal, or that he will do anything, and it may not be assumed what the court of appeals may do when the case comes back to it, if it does come back.
The petition states that both courts will act, and further states the nature of the action that will be taken by each, but such allegations are no more than legal conclusions, and cannot weigh against the natural and usual presumption of law that a court will act within and exercise only that jurisdiction with which it is clothed. All these matters are at best only the groundwork of possible error, and, as appears above, the writ of prohibition cannot be em- • ployed as a substitute for review.
Writ denied.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.