Williams v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co.
Williams v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co.
Opinion of the Court
A motion to dismiss the appeal in this case is made upon the ground that, the amount involved in the action being less than $75, this court has no jurisdiction of the appeal. The motion is resisted by the appellant, who contends that the act of 1897 is unconstitutional, and that the appeal is not from a judgment, but from an order granting a new trial, and hence does not come within the provisions of the act of 1897. It appears from the abstract that the action was commenced in a justice court to recover $50, and appealed to the circuit court, in which a verdict for the defendant was rendered by a jury, and a motion for a new trial made and granted. The appeal is from the order granting the new trial. No judgment appears to have been entered or rendered in the circuit court. The question of the constitutionality of the law (Chapter 55, Laws 1897) was fully considered in McClain v. Williams (recently decided by this court) 73 N. W. 72, in which it arrived at the conclusion that the law is constitutional; and it need not therefore be further considered.
The second contention requires an examination of the provisions of the act. The first section of the act of 1897 provides that Section 5213, Comp. Laws, be amended so as to read as provided in the second section of the act. The section amended reads as follows: “Appeals to the supreme court may be taken from the district courts when no other court of i§
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Laws 1897, Chap. 55, Sec. 1, amending Comp. Laws, Sec. 5213, so as to forbid appeals from circuit to supreme court from “judgments” for recovery of $75 or less; and Laws 1897, Chap. 55, Sec. 3, providing that all “judgments” in such cases shall be final, — did not repeal Comp. Laws, Sections 5214, 5236, allowing appeals from orders granting or refusing a new trial, and hence such appeals may be taken, whatever the amount involved.