McElwee v. White
McElwee v. White
Dissenting Opinion
Where there is an act to be done within a certain number of days, the first day is inclusive in the computation of the time. Therefore I dissent.
Opinion of the Court
The 3d. sec. of the prison bounds Act, 5 Stat. 78, provides, “that all prisoners in execution on any civil process, who are or shall be committed to the custody of any or either of the sheriffs of the districts or counties of this State, shall be entitled to the benefit of the said rules, bounds or limits, provided he or she shall, within forty days after being taken in execution, give satisfactory security to the sheriff of the district or county where he or she may be confined, (for the solvency of which security the sheriff shall also be answerable) that he or she will not only remain within the said rules, bounds or limits, but will also, within forty days, render to the clerk of the court in the district or county where he or she shall be confined, a schedule, on oath or affirmation, (agreeable to the form of his or her religious persuasion) of his or her whole estate, or of so much thereof as will pay and satisfy the sum due on the execution by force of which he or she shall be confined.”
In Walker vs. Briggs, 1 Hill, 121, it was held that the prisoner in execution must render to the clerk his schedule within forty days from the date of the bond. The case before us makes the question whether the day of the date of the bond is to be included or excluded in the computation of the forty days allowed for the filing of the schedule. The cases of Smyth ads. Ex'ors. of Wigfall, and Bauxbaum and Trescott ads. the Same, 2 McC. 135, decide nothing on this point, for it is plain, on reading the opinion, that the Judges assumed that the forty
I agree entirely with the Judge below, that the decision of the commissioner of special bail did not estop the plaintiff from setting up this breach of the bond. The true rule is stated by my brother Butler, in Brevard, assignee, vs. Wylie, 1 Rich. 38. In that case it was held that the discharge was only conclusive of matters put in issue at the time it was granted. Here no objection, such as that raised, was made to the liberation of the prisoner. Indeed the creditor had a right to consider the securities as fixed if the schedule was not filed within forty days, and hence it was immaterial to him what was done with the person of the debtor.
On the first ground, however, the plaintiff must fail, for excluding the day of the date, the schedule was filed within forty days, and there is no breach of the condition of the bond.
The motion to reverse the decree is granted.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.