Alexander v. Alexander
Alexander v. Alexander
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The questions involved here arise upon a motion to dismiss the appeal in the above-entitled case.
On November 22d, 1878, a decree was pronounced by Judge Hudson, at chambers, in the above case, in favor of the plaintiff, respondent. The decree, on its face, purports to have been by consent of counsel on both sides. Judgment was entered, and the judgment roll filed on the same day of the decree in the clerk’s office for Pickens county, the county of the action. On February 5th, 1880, over fourteen months after the judgment was perfected by filing the judgment roll, a notice of appeal was served on plaintiff’s attorneys by other attorneys than those on the record for defendant, Sarah A. Alexander. This notice was endorsed by plaintiff’s attorneys and returned.
Upon these facts the respondent now moves to dismiss the appeal on two grounds:
1. “Because the notice of appeal was not served within the time prescribed by the law.
2. “Because the decree was by consent, and is not, therefore, appealable.”
At the time the decree of Judge Hudson was pronounced and the judgment entered, to wit, November 22d, 1878, the law regulating appeals as to time was contained in Section 357 of the code. That section provided “that appeals to the Supreme Court, under Subdivision 2, Section 11, of the code, must be taken within sixty days after written notice of the order shall
It is admitted that the notice was not given until after fourteen months had elapsed from that time. This, then, is fatal if Section 357 was applicable to the case. But the appellant contends that the appeal in this case is not governed by Section 357. She claims that Section 357 was repealed by the act of December, 1878, and this case is subject to the provisions of that act.
The act of 1878 provides “that in every appeal from an order, decree or judgment, or other matters from which an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court, the appellant or his attorney shall, within ten days after written notice that such order, decree or judgment has been granted at chambers, give notice to the opposite party of his intention to appeal, * * * and upon his failure to do so, his appeal shall be regarded as waived.” It is admitted that no written notice has ever been given to the appellant of the granting of the decree in question, so that if the act of 1878 (supra) does apply, then her claim that she is within time is well founded. The question, then, in the case is: Under which of these two acts, Section 357 of the code, or the act of December, 1878, does this appeal fall?
The act of 1878, by its terms (Section 5), was not to go into operation until February 1st, 1879, and by Section 6 of the act it is provided “that all acts, and parts of acts, inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.” 16 Stat. 699.
The respondent contends that Section 357 of the code, or at least so much of it as limits absolutely the time of appeal to three months, or to a certain class of cases, is not inconsistent with the act of 1878, and, therefore, that this portion of this section is still of foi’ce, which, not having been complied with by the appellant, the appeal must be dismissed. His position is,
.This argument is ingenious, but we do not think it sound. We think that Section 357 of the code is inconsistent, in all of its provisions, with the act of December, 1878, and was, therefore, repealed from February 1st, 1879, the time when this act took effect. Section 357 gave the right of appeal from matters embraced under Subdivision 2 of Section 11 of the code for sixty days after written notice of the passage of the order. By the act of December, 1878, this time has been reduced to ten days. These two provisions are certainty inconsistent. In every other appeal under this section three months were allowed from the filing of the judgment roll. This embraced rulings, orders, decrees and judgments pronounced in open court, as well as those
In this view we think that Section 357 of the code, as a whole, is inconsistent with the act of December, 1878, and, therefore, falls under the repealing clause of that act.
But we do not see how this can help the appellant in this case. The repeal of Section 357 did not take place until February
Section 357 of the code, then, being of force at the time the right of appeal attached in this case, it must stand or fall, as that section may determine, and, it being admitted that no notice of appeal was given by the appellant within the three months after the filing of the judgment roll required by that section, it follows that the appeal must be dismissed.
The objection to the appeal being fatal on the first ground, it will be unnecessary to consider the second.
It is ordered that the appeal be dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ALEXANDER v. ALEXANDER
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Section 357 of tbe Code of Procedure was repealed by tbe act of December, 1878, wbicb fixes tbe time witlrin wbicb every appeal to the Suj>reme Court must be taken; but such repeal did not affect cases where the right of appeal attached before this act went into operation. 2. Decree was filed November 22d, 1878, and more than three months after-wards, but before written notice of such filing, notice of appeal was given; on motion, the appeal was dismissed.