Barney v. Scherling

40 Miss. 320
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1866
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 40 Miss. 320 (Barney v. Scherling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barney v. Scherling, 40 Miss. 320 (Mich. 1866).

Opinion

HaNDY, C. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an attachment sued out by the plaintiff in error against the defendant, on a suggestion under oath, that the defendant was indebted to him in a specified sum of money, and that he had assigned or disposed of, or was about to assign and dispose of, his property or rights in action, or some part thereof, with intent to defraud his creditors, or to give an unfair preference to some of them, or that he had converted, or [328]*328was about to convert, bis property into money or evidences of debt, with intent to place it beyond the reach of his creditors.” The defendant filed his plea in abatement, traversing the several averments of this affidavit; and upon that issue the verdict was for the defendant. The plantiffi thereupon moved for a new trial, on grounds stated which will be hereafter noticed; that motion was overruled, and thereupon the plaintiff took his bill of exceptions, and brings the case here.

The grounds for the motion for a new trial, are: 1, because the verdict was contrary to law and evidence ; 2, because the verdict assessing damages against the plaintiff was contrary to law and evidence; and 3, because the court allowed improper evidence to go to the jury — that the property levied on was the property of Anne G. Scherling and not of the defendant.

The first error assigned is the admission of the evidence offered by the defendant to show that the lands attached were the property of his wife.

On the trial, the defendant offered in evidence a deed for the lands attached, executed by one Cowden to Anne G. Scherling; the plaintiff objected to its introduction, and the objection was overruled. It does not appear by the record, nor is it now stated, on what ground that objection was based; and we can only regard the deed with reference to its relevancy and competency as evidence.

¥e consider it competent under the issue, and proper to be taken into view by the jury, upon the question . of the alleged intent of the defendant to dispose of his property, including the lands embraced in tiffs deed, in fraud of his creditors. It tended to show, in the first place, that the lands were the property of his wife; and hence that his effort to dispose of them, about the time the attachment was issued, was not for the purpose of disposing of his property to defraud his creditors. If the jury believed the conveyance to his wife to be hon&fide and'valid, and not made with intent to defraud his creditors, or to 'place the lands beyond their reach by having them conveyed to his wife, then it is clear that the evidence was directly relevant to the issue, whether he was about to dispose of his property with in[329]*329tent to defraud, bis creditors. But the evidence was likewise competent to be considered by them with reference to the validity of the deed, and it was for them to determine whether the conveyance to her was, or was not, made with a fraudulent intent towards his creditors. In the next place, the evidence was proper to be taken into consideration, as tending to show that the defendant was not attempting to dispose of his property in fraud of his creditors, because the lands were conveyed to his wife, and that was to some degree an impediment to their being subjected to the payment of his debts, and a reason why he should not convey them to defraud his creditors. In this view, the evidence was proper to be considered by the jury, who might give it such weight as they thought proper.

The second error assigned is that the court gave the first, third, fifth and sixth instructions asked by the defendant.

It is to be obsei'ved, that no objection was made on the trial to the granting of these instructions, nor was any exception taken on that ground. Nor was it alleged, as ground of the motion for a new trial, that these instructions, now alleged to be erroneous, were given. The case is brought here for review’ solely upon the ground that the court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial; and the question for our determination is, whether the corn't erred in disallowing that motion on cmy of the grotmds on which it was made. It is clearly not proper for us to take into consideration any other objections to the proceedings, trial and verdict than those which the plaintiff has stated in his motion.

This appears to be very clear on general principles, and there is nothing in our laws in conflict with it.

The statute (Rev. Code, 504, article 161) requires that all instructions given by the court in the trial of any cause, civil or criminal, shall be in writing, and that all instructions asked and given or refused, shall be marked by the clerk as given or refused, and shall be a part of the record, or appeal or writ of error, without a bill of exceptions. This simply makes the instructions given and refused, a part of the record, without a bill of exceptions, which before was necessary to that end.

[330]*330Article 162 gives to any party aggrieved by any charge or decision of any Circuit Court, tlie right to tender a bill of exceptions, stating the matters of law wherein the court is supposed to err (and of course so much of the evidence touching the same as is necessary to present the questions of law), and the judge is bound to sign the same, and said bill of exceptions is made a part of the record.

This gives the right of a bill of exceptions to the rulings of the court, pending the trial, and before verdict, in order that the judgment, so far as it is affected by such rulings, may be reviewed on appeal or writ of error in this court; and this was the right, and the course of procedure prevailing under the law of England, in order to the correction of errors of inferior courts.

Article 166 of the same statute gives the further right, that “ when a motion for a new.trial shall be granted or refused, either party may except to the decision of the court, and may reduce to writing the reasons offered■ for said new trial, together with the substance of the evidence in the case, and also the decision of the court on said motion; and it shall be the duty of the judge to allow and sign the same; and such bill of exceptions shall be a part of the record in the cause. And it shah be lawful for the appellant or plaintiff in error, in such cause, to assign for error that the judge in the court below improperly granted or refused a new trial therein, and the High Court of Errors and Appeals shall have power to grant new trials, or to correct any errors of the Circuit Court in granting or refusing the same.”

It is manifest that these provisions of law were intended to apply to distinct states of case in which bills of exceptions were recognized or authorized ;■ that article 162' applies to bills of exceptions taken and signed, pending the trial, and before verdict ;. and that article 166 applies to exceptions taken to the action of the court on motions for new trials. It is equally clear that one or both of the remedies may be resorted to, in one and the same case, but that each must stand on its own merits.

The exceptions taken under the former, are confined to the [331]*331special points to wbicb they relate, and can have no other or further application; and this is well settled in the English practice.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 Miss. 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barney-v-scherling-miss-1866.