Hammen v. Minnick
Hammen v. Minnick
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an action of debt on a sheriff’s bond for a breach of the condition. It is alleged and shown that a writ of fieri facias was sued out of the clerk’s office of the circuit court of Rockingham county, on the 10th of June, 1870, returnable on the first Monday in August following, for $350, and interest and costs, on behalf of George Airey, for the use of Isaac Minnick, against one Peter Paul, which execution came into the hands of A. A. Hess, deputy for Joseph A. Hammen, sheriff of said county of Rockingham. The declaration assigns various breaches. That- the writ was not returned by the first Monday in August, the return day, nor the money paid. That it was returned afterwards with an endorsement thereon, “Levied this fi.fa. July 30th, 1870, upon a lot of wheat, and 15 head of hogs, four hundred bushels of oats, as the property of Peter Paul, and ten head of cattle and four head of horses,” which return is signed “A. A. Hess, deputy for J. A. Hammen, S. R. C.” “Credit by note of S. B. Good, of date of June 26th, 1873—amount, one hundred and sixty dollars.” “The property levied on this fi.fa% was levied on prior to this execution. Returned no property found unincumbered upon which to levy.” Signed A. A. Hess, D. S. And the declaration alleges that the said last endorsement is false, fraudulent and evasive. It also alleges that the said A. A. Hess, deputy as aforesaid, allowed the said property levied on to remain in the possession of the debtor, and the same was wasted, destroyed or made away with without the leave or consent and against the will of the said plaintiff. The defendants pleaded conditions performed, on which issue was joined. No
The defendants then offered in evidence, to maintain the issue on their part, the subsequent endorsement made upon the execution, before recited, but which is without date, signed A. A. Hess, X). S.; to the introduction of which in evidence the plaintiff objected, and the court sustained the objection, and excluded it from the jury. The defendant then offered to prove by the said' A. A. ITess; that at the time the said execution came into his hands, he had other and older executions in his hands against the same debtor, and had taxes due the county of Rockingham and state of Virginia in his hands against him, which were levied upon the same property named in the return endorsed upon the execution in favor of the plaintiff aforesaid, and that the proceeds from the sale of said property were applied to the payment of said older executions and taxes, and that said Peter Paul had no property unincumbered out of which the plaintiff’s execution aforesaid could have been made. To the introduction of all which evidence the plaintiff, by his counsel, objected, and the court sustained the objection, and excluded said evidence from the jury; and to the said several rulings of the court the defendants excepted.
If the endorsement on the execution excluded from the jury by the court, is an amendment of or addition to a previous return made by the sheriff, and is not a part of the original return, but made by the deputy subsequently thereto^ and after he had returned the execution to the office, it does not appear that it was lawfully made by the deputy, as it does not appear to have been made by the deputy by leave
The court is of opinion therefore, that the court below erred in refusing to allow the defendants to prove by A. A. Hess the facts which they offered to prove by him, as set out in the bill of exceptions, and that for this cause the judgment must be reversed with costs, and the cause remanded.
The judgment was as follows:
This day came again the parties by their counsel, and
Which is ordered to be certified to the said circuit court of Rockingham county.
Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Hammen, sheriff, & als. v. Minnick
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published