Heath v. Huffhines
Heath v. Huffhines
Opinion of the Court
On the present appeal the only assignments of error go to alleged errors in the charge of the court as given, and to the action of the court in refusing to give specified special charges requested. Appellee objects to the several assignments of error, on the ground that proper exceptions were not taken to the aqtion of the court complained óf, as required by legislative act approved March 29, 1913. See' General Laws 1913, p. 113.
In an opinion handed down by this court on April 25, 1914, in the case of Taylor v. Butler (No. 7928) 168 S. W. 1004, in which it became necessary to determine a similar objection, we said:
“Formerly the ruling of the court in giving, refusing, or qualifying instructions to the jury was regarded as excepted to in all eases. See Revised Statutes, art. 2061. But this article was amended by the act approved March 29, 1913 (see General Laws 1913, p. 113), where it is provided that the court’s charge shall be in *975 v/riting, and shall be submitted to the respective parties or their attorneys for inspection, and a reasonable time given them in which to examine it and present exceptions thereto, ‘which objections shall in every instance be presented to the court before the charge is read to the jury, and all objections not so made and presented shall be considered as waived.’ Article 1973, Revised Statutes, is also amended so as to read: ‘Either party may present to the judge, in writing, such instructions as he desires to be given to the jury; and the judge may give such instructions, or a part thereof, or he may refuse to give them, as he may see proper, and he shall read to the jury such of them as he may give; provided, such instructions shall be prepared and presented to the court and submitted to opposing counsel for examination and objection within a reasonable time after the charge is given to the parties or their attorneys for examination.’ See Gen. L. 1913, p. 114. The same law amends article 2061 of chapter 19 of the Revised Statutes, making it the duty of a party dissatisfied with a ruling of the court to except thereto at the time it is made, and prescribing the requisites of bills of exceptions, so as to read: ‘The ruling of the court in the giving, refusing or qualifying of instructions to the jury shall bei regarded as approved unless excepted to as provided for in the foregoing articles.’ See Gen. L. 1913, p. 114.
“It follows that, in order for a party litigant to now invoke our revisory power over a ruling of the court in giving charges, it is necessary to show, not only that the objections to the charge had been presented before the charge was read to the jury, but also that formal exception -was taken at the time to the action of the court in giving the charge complained of. Where the complaint is, as here, of the action of the court in refusing a special instruction, exception to the refusal must be made at the time, and the exception made part of the record by a proper bill of exception. Otherwise the ruling must be approved. The assignment under consideration refers us to bill of exception No. 4. No such bill appears in the record, nor do we otherwise find that exception to the action of the court in refusing the special charge in question was made, as provided by the amended act quoted. The ruling must therefore, in accordance with the act, be considered as approved.”
The opinion so rendered seems controlling here. No bill of exception is referred to which shows that appellant presented his objections to the charge of the court before it was given to the jury, nor one that shows that the ruling of the court in refusing the special charges now complained of was excepted to at the time.
“Now comes the defendant in open court, makes the following exceptions and objections to the charge of the court in this case.”
Then follow numerous objections to the various paragraphs of the court’s charge which
are signed by counsel for the defendant, and marked:
“Filed July 31, 1913. E. F. Metz, County Clerk, Johnson County, Texas, by T. J. Clayton, Deputy.”
The record further discloses that the charge of the court was filed on the same day, to wit, July 31, 1913. Hence it merely appears that the statement was filed by the clerk in open court on the same day the court’s charge was filed. There is nothing in the record which shows that the objections so set out in the statement were in fact called to the attention of the trial court before his charge was delivered to the jury, and this fact must be shown in order to be available on appeal.
The objections “shall in every instance be presented to .the court before’the charge is read to the jury, and all objections not so made and presented shall be considered as waived.”
Amended article 2061 is equally as emphatic. The declaration .is that:
“The ruling of the court in the giving, refusing or qualifying of instructions to the jury shall be regarded as approved unless excepted to as provided for in the foregoing articles.”
The terms “as provided for in the foregoing articles” evidently refer to the foregoing articles of the chapter relating to bills of exception, and not, as it would seem appellant now insists, to the foregoing articles of the amendatory- act, for the amended article 2061 must now be read as if inserted in its appropriate place in chapter 19, relating to bills of exception and statements of fact, instead of chapter 13, relating to charges and instructions to the jury. The amending act expressly declares that “all laws or parts of laws in conflict with the articles here amended” are repealed. Construing the amended articles in their proper relation, they necessarily repeal all articles of the statutes prescribing the different practice heretofore followed.
We conclude that all assignments of error must be overruled, and the judgment aflirm-ed.
Reference
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