Muller v. Bayly
Muller v. Bayly
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
After stating the case, he proceeded: The injunction
Thus it appears that there was no good ground for an injunction ; that it ought not to have been granted : and having been improvidently granted, that it ought to have been dissolved on motion, even without the necessity of an answer or of a demurrer.
But it is said that the Circuit court of the city of Richmond had no right to make the order which it did make on the 8th of July 1869, for the removal of the cause to the Circuit court of the county of Henrico; and that, if the cause was improperly brought in the Circuit court of the city of Richmond, a3 stated in the said order, it ought to have been dismissed, according to the principle of the cases of Randolph's ex'or, &c. v. Tucker & al., 10 Leigh 655; and Beckley v. Palmer & al., 11 Gratt. 625; instead of being removed to the Circuit court of the county of Henrico.
It seems difficult to perceive how the appellants could he prejudiced by removing their cause to another court instead of dismissing their bill; or how they would have been any better off than they now are, if their bill . had been dismissed by the Circuit court of the city of Richmond for want of jurisdiction.
It is contended, that though the hill states a proper case for equitable relief, that relief coaid be tered only by the Circuit or County court of the county of Honrico, and not by the Circuit court of the city of Richmond, according to the Code, ch. 179, § 4, p. 786, which declares that “jurisdiction of a bill for an injunction to any judgment, act or proceeding, shall be in a Circuit, County or Corporation court, of a county or corporation in which the judgment is rendered, or the act or proceeding is to be done, or is doing, or apprehended,” &c. It is contended that this is an injunction suit, wilhiii the meaning of that section, that the proceeding injoined, to wit: the sale under the deed of trust, was about to take place in the county of Henrico, and not in the city of Richmond, and therefore that only the courts of the county, and not the courts of the city, have jurisdiction of the suit; though every judge of a Circuit court has, under § 6 of the same chapter, a general jurisdiction in awarding injunctions ; but Ms order must, according to § 9, bo directed to the clerk of such Circuit court as has jurisdiction under § 4, and the proceedings {hereupon shall be as if the order bad been made by such court or the judge thereof.
It is well settled that § 4, of chapter 179, aforesaid, applies only to a puro bill of injunction, and not to a bill seeking other relief, to which the injunction sought is merely ancillary. This was expressly decided by this court in the rocent case of Winston & als. v. The Midlothian Coal Mining Company & als., 20 Gratt. 686. See also 2 Rob. old Pr. 249, and the cases there cited of Hough v. Shreeve, 4 Munf. 490; Singleton v. Lewis &c., 6 Munf. 397; and Pulliam v. Winston, 5 Leigh 324.
The bill in this case is something more than a pure injunction bill. It seeks to invalidate the deed of trust*
But it had jurisdiction of the suit, even if we regard it as a pure injunction suit. A court of chancery acts upon the person, and as a general rule, has jurisdiction wherever the defendant resides or is found within its territorial limits. Sometimes a statute gives to a particular court of chancery special jurisdiction in a particular case. The statute in regard to pure injunction suits is one of that nature. But certainly that statute does not take away or impair the power of a court of chancery of genal jurisdiction to take cognizance of a case submitted to its decision by the consent of all parties, especially when, all of them reside within its territorial limits. If a decree had been made in this suit by the Circuit court of the city of Richmond, showing that it was heard in such court by consent of all parties, surely the decree would not bé void for want of jurisdiction, even though the bill were a pure injunction bill, and showed upon its face •that the proceeding sought to be injoined was about to take place outside of the boundaries of the city. So, a so, if the plaintiffs in the injunction suit elect to bring their suit in the Circuit court of the city of Richmond, where all or nearly all of the parties concerned reside, instead of in the Circuit court of the county of Henrico, it would not lie in their mouths afterwards to say that the ci'iirt thus selected by them, had no jurisdiction of the suit. The defendants might, perhaps, make the objection, but not the plaintiffs. True, the law in regard to the jurisdiction of an injunction bill was no doubt made chiefly, if not entirely, for the benefit and conve
In this case there was nothing in the bill to show that the property about to be sold was situated outside of city, or that the sale was to be made outside of the city. The bill was filed by the plaintiffs in the Circuit court of the city, and the two principal defendants, Bayly and Brooks, who resided in the city, filed their answers, making no objection to the jurisdiction of the court. These answers were replied to generally, and the parties were thus at issue: after which the order of removal aforesaid was made. When that order was made there was nothing in the cause showing, certainly, that the property to be sold was situate outside of the city. The advertisement describes it as within 300 yards of the corporation line; but whether without or within that line is not stated. The lots are described as being in Duval’s addition, and as being designated by certain numbers in the plan of that addition.
Row, can it be predicated of this case that the Circuit court had not jurisdiction of it when the order of removal was made ?
That proposition is sought to be maintained on the authority of the cases of Randolph's ex'or &c. v. Tucker & al., 10 Leigh, 655, and Beckley v. Palmer & al., 11 Gratt. 625, before referred to. Do they maintain it? We think not.
In the case of Randolph's ex'or v. Tucker &c., which was decided by a special court of appeals, consisting of three judges of the General court, the suit was brought in the Circuit court of James City county, where none of the defendants resided ; to obtain an issue of devisavit vel non in regard to John Randolph’s will, which had been admitted to probate in the general court. The defendants resided in other, and generally distant, counties, and the transaction sought to be injoined was to take
In the case of Beckley v. Palmer & al., the bill, upon its face, showed that it ought to have been filed in the Circuit court of Fayette county, where the judgment sought to be injoined was rendered,' instead of the Circuit court of Baleigli, and the objection was made by, and the decision of the court was in favor of, the defendants, and not the plaintiffs, who had elected to bring their suit in the Circuit court of Baleigli. This was one of the grounds on which this court affirmed the decree of the court below dismissing the bill. There was another ground of dismission, in regard to which four of the five judges who sat in the case concurred, or
Those cases, therefore, cannot be regarded as authority for holding that when the order of removal was made the Circuit court of the city of Richmond had no jurisdiction of the case. .
We are of opinion, then, that it had such jurisdiction. And now we come to the question,
Is there any error in the order of removal ?
There was first such an order made in vacation, but on the next day the vacation order wTas set aside, and the same order was made in court. The court order is the one, the validity of which we are now to consider.
The law 'which authorizes a suit to be removed from one Circuit court into another, is to be found in the Code, ch. 174, § 3, p. 719. ££ On the motion of any party to a suit in a Circuit court, the said court may order it to be removed to any other Circuit court,” &c.
It does not appear on whose motion the order of removal in this case was made ; nor is that necessary. It does appear that both parlies were present by their counsel when the order was made ; and the presumption is that it was duly made. The order assigns as a reason for making it, that it appeared that the cause had been improperly brought in the court. Even if this reason were unfounded in fact, it would not invalidate an order which the court had power to make, and to which there was no exception. The court might have thought the cause had been improperly brought into the court, even though the court had jurisdiction to try it. But that a
Is there any error in the vacation order of the judge of the Circuit court of the county of Henrico, made_on the defendant’s motion to dissolve the injunction?
That motion came on to be heard on notice of the same, and on the bill, answers and exhibits, and the order of removal aforesaid, and on two objections taken by the plaintiffs to the hearing of said motion, to wit: 1st. That the cause was removed from the Circuit court of the city of Richmond during the vacation of the Circuit court of the county of Henrico ; and, 2d. That the same had not been placed upon the docket of the latter court at its regular term. And after argument by counsel, the said judge ordered the injunction to be dissolved and the bill to be dismissed: and further, suspended the effect of the order for thirty days ; no doubt to afford the plaintiffs an opportunity of applying for this appeal.
That the cause was removed during the vacation of the Circuit court of Henrico, can make no difference. Hor can it make any, that the same had not been placed upon the docket of the said court at its regular term, when the said motion and order were made. The law gives to the court, to which the cause may be removed, no discretion about it. Section 4, of ch. 174, p. 719, of the Code, provides that “ when any suit is ordered to
The judge of the Circuit court of the county of Henrico having power to make the order of dissolution which was made in the case, the next question is, Was it right to make such an order ? and that question has already, in effect, been answered in the affirmative.
But the judge, besides dissolving the injunction, made an order to dismiss the bill; which he had no right to-do in vacation. The Code, ch. 179, § 14, declares that
There are two questions connected with this case, which we have deemed it unnecessary to decide, and upon which we do not wish to be understood as intimating any opinion ; and they are, 1st, whether the plaintiff in an injunction suit has not a right of election to bring it in the place in which the judgment was rendered or the proceeding is apprehended which is sought to be injoined, or to bring it in the place where the defendants or some of them reside ; and, 2diy, if he be bound to bring it in the former, and it be brought in the latter, by mistake of the judge awarding the injunction in directing his order to the clerk of the latter instead of •the former, or otherwise ; whether it be necessary to dismiss the bill, on motion being made for that purpose ; or whether, instead of dismissing it, the suit may not be removed into the proper court, by order of the court in which it is improperly brought. These questions may both be res adjudicata. But whether so or not, we mean not now, because it is unnecessary, to decide.
Therefore, so much of the said order as purports to dismiss the bill is void and must be disregarded ; and we are of opinion that the said order ought to be amended in that respect, and as amended affirmed, and the cause remanded to the said Circuit court of the county of Henrico for further proceedings to be had therein as aforesaid.
Decree amended and aeeirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Muller &c. v. Bayly & al.
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