Adams v. Rowe

11 Me. 89
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJune 15, 1833
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 11 Me. 89 (Adams v. Rowe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Rowe, 11 Me. 89 (Me. 1833).

Opinion

Mellen C. J.

at the ensuing June term, delivered the opinion of the Court.

As Rowe was an inhabitant of Boston when the original action was commenced against Benson and the defendant as his trustee, and as he was served personally with an attested copy of [94]*94the process, the Court of Massachusetts had jurisdiction of the cause, and over both the defendants 5 at least, so far as that the default of each was properly entered, and both the judgments thereon were correctly rendered, and, to all legal purposes, binding on both, in this State as well as in Massachusetts, But as to the present defendant, the default entered and the consequent judgment against the goods and chattels, rights and credits of Benson in his hands and possession, did not expose him to any liability to pay any sum whatever to the plaintiff; for if he had been actually notified and accordingly appeared and answered to the scire facias, and disclosed on oath as by law prescribed, and on his disclosure the Court had adjudged him not the trustee of Benson when the original process was served upon him, he would have been at once discharged by the Court; and the only consequence of his neglect to appear and disclose on the original process, instead of being defaulted, would have been that he could not have recovered any costs. On examination of the several acts of Massachusetts, relating to the service of writs of scire facias which have been introduced and commented upon in the argument, we are not disposed to doubt, (were it our province to inquire) that the service of the scire facias in the present case was regular-, as it appeared on the officer’s return; and authorised the Court there, to render the judgment on which the plaintiff has declared. The important and interesting question is, “What is the character of that judgment in this State, as to its conclusiveness on the defendant and upon the Court in this State, where the plaintiff is seeking its enforcement ?” It appears that the defendant removed from Massachusetts and became a permanent inhabitant of Maine some time before the writ of scire facias was sued out, and has continued such to this time; and never had any notice of the existence of such suit on the scire facias, or of the .judgment therein rendered against him, till some time subsequent to its rendition.

If the judgment declared on had been rendered against the defendant in a common action, in which he had been sued as the dehtor of the plaintiff, instead of the debtor of Benson, it is perfectly clear that, according to the decisions in Bissell v. Briggs and Hall & al. v. Williams & al. cited at the argument, the [95]*95judgment would be open to examination in our courts, as much as the demand, on which the judgment was founded, would be. It would not have the sanctity of a judgment, and.thus conclude the defendant as to his rights. The case of Bissell v. Briggs, was decided many years since, and prior to our separation from Massachusetts; and has ever been considered in this State as reposing on the soundest principles, and sustained by unanswerable arguments. And the case of Hall & al. v. Williams & al. was decided on the same principles, after a full and learned investigation of the subject, and a review of the principal authorities, having a bearing upon it. The only question of any importance in the cause is, whether the action on scire facias is to be considered as an exception, and not subject to the operation of the doctrine established by the foregoing decisions; or, in other words, was the scire facias to be considered as a new action, or a continuation of the original suit, and as constituting a necessary part of it ? If it was, it would seem that this action is maintainable, because the Court of Massachusetts had unquestionable jurisdiction of that suit. In 6 of Dane’s Abr. 463, the learned author says, that a scire facias is not properly an action, but a mere continuation of an action, whenever it is used to carry into effect a former judgment against a party to it; and it differs from scire facias against hail; that, he observes, is a new action. He states no other scire facias as an exception. Bail are sureties for the defendant, in the same manner as the indorser of a writ is a surety for the plaintiff. In both cases, however, their suretyship is of a conditional character. In certain events each may be liable to pay a sum of money recovered by one party against the other, but, in other respects, they have no immediate connection with the original action. The scire facias against hail and against the indorser of a writ is properly considered as a new action; in each case it issues against a person who was no party to the record in the original action. In the case before us, Bowe was a party to the action when the same was commencedthe judgment entered on his first default, was indefinite, incomplete, and in no respect conclusive upon him, except as to costs. The statute has therefore made provision for furnishing the creditor with further process, for ascertaining the plaintiff’s rights and the [96]*96defendant’s liabilities, and thus preparing the way for his obtaining final process, to compel payment of whatever sum the Court shall adjudge to be in his hands and possession as the trustee of the principal debtor. When the defendant submitted to the first default, he knew that he was thereby subjected to no liabilities to the plaintiff; he knew that there must be further proceedings in court, in which he was to bear a part, in making his disclosure and discharging himself on oath, or else that the plaintiff would avail himself on his default, of all the expected advantages from the institution of proceedings against him; he knew that his own conduct had rendered a scire facias necessary to a final decision of the cause against him. He knew when he removed from Massachusetts into this State, that legal process from the Court in Massachusetts, could not run into Maine; of course, that there could be no service of the scire facias upon him personally, or in any other manner than by a copy of it left at his last and usual place of abode in Boston, according to the law of Massachusetts. He knew that if he had no goods, effects, or credits of Benson in his hands when the process was served on him personally in Boston, it was important for him to disclose that fact on the scire facias, and thus protect himself from, all danger consequent upon his first default. He must be presumed to have known that the scire facias would necessarily issue from the Court in Massachusetts, and that no service of the writ could be made upon him in this State, but only by leaving a copy at his last and -usual place of abode in Boston, as we have before mentioned. Considering the peculiar nature of our trustee process, must not the scire fa-cias, which the statute has provided, be considered as a part, and a very essential part, of the original action, and a continuation of it for the purposes we have been considering.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Me. 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-rowe-me-1833.