Board of Education v. CrawFord

14 W. Va. 790, 1879 W. Va. LEXIS 10
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1879
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 14 W. Va. 790 (Board of Education v. CrawFord) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Education v. CrawFord, 14 W. Va. 790, 1879 W. Va. LEXIS 10 (W. Va. 1879).

Opinion

HaymoND, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the Court :

This is an action of unlawful detainer brought by the plaintiff against the defendant. The action was commenced before a justice of the peace of Charleston district in the county of Kanawha. • The summons in the cause is dated the 27th day of November, 1877, and summons the defendant, Henry Crawford, to appear before the justice at his office in the said district of Charleston, in said county, on the 4th day of December, 1877, at 10 o’clock a. M. to answer the complaint of the Board of Education of Union district of Kanawha county, in a civil action for unlawfully withholding from the said plaintiff “one certain school house and lot, situate in Kanawha county, and State of West Virginia, in the school district of Union, and sub-division number fifteen of said school district,” in which plaintiff demands judgment for the recovery of of said school house and lot situated as aforesaid. The defendant appeared before the justice on the 4th day of December, 1877; and upon his application the cause was removed by the justice to the county court of Kanawha for trial under the 3d section of chapter 226 of the Acts of the Legislature of 1872-3.

[792]*792Afterwards at a county court held for said county of Kanawha, on the 2-lst day of December, 1877, the parties the. action appeared in court; and the defendant “moved the court to quash the summons in this cause,” which motion the said court overruled ; and the defendant thereupon pleaded not guilty to the action; and thereupon a jury was selected, impanelled and sworn the truth to speak upon the issue joined; and afterwards during the same term of the court the jury returned to the court their verdict in these words , “We, the jury, find that the defendant within three years from the date of of the institution of this suit and at the time of the institution thereof, did and does unlawfully withhold from the plaintiff the house and lot and premises in controversy, to-wit, one certain school house and lot, situated in school district number fifteen of the school district of Union, being the lot and house thereon which was conveyed by JohnTruslow and wife to The Board of Educa-tain of the school district of Union, by deed dated August 11, 1877. And thereupon the defendant moved the court to 'set aside the verdict of the jury and award him a new'trial, which motion the court sustained and awarded a new trial, the costs of the trial to abide final decision of the cause ; and the cause was continued.

Afterwards on the 27th day of February, 1877, at a county court held for said county, the parties appeared in court, by their attorneys, and on motion of the de-fedant leave was granted him to withdraw the plea of not guilty theretofore entered in the cause, to which the plaintiff objected, but the objection was overruled. And thereupon the defendant made and renewed his motion to quash the summons issued in this cause for defects apparent upon the face thereof, for uncertainty in the description of the property alleged to be withheld from plaintiff by defendant, &c-; which motion the court sustained and rendered judgment quashing said summons, and dismissing the action, and rendered judgment against the plaintiff' and in favor of the defendant for the costs of suit.

[793]*793Afterwards the plaintiff, The Board of Education of said Union district, upon petition and assignment of error obtainedfrom the judge of the circuit court of said county a writ of error and supersedeas to the said last named judgment. And afterwards, on the 13th day of June, 1878, the circuit court heard the cause upon said writ of error and supersedeas and was of opinion that there was error in the said judgment, and that there was “no defect apparent on the face of the summons in the cause, and that the county court erred in sustaining the motion to quash the same,” and rendered judgment that the said judgment of the county court “be vacated, reversed and set aside and that, a new trial be awarded” in the cause, and the “appellant” in that court recover from the appellee its costs about the prosecuting of said writ of error and su-persedeas. And the said circuit court ordered that the case be retained in that court to be tried and determined. To this judgment of the circuit court the defendant (Crawford) upon his petition and assignment of error therein obtained from one of the judges of this court in vacation a writ of error and supersedeas.

It is assigned as error in the said judgment of the circuit court, and has been argued before us, that the court erred in reversing the judgment of the county court, quashing the original summons issued in the cause, because the summons does not sufficiently describe the premises in the summons mentioned. The first question to be determined by this Court is : whether the judgment of the circuit court, reversing and setting Syllabus i. aside the judgment of the county court quashing the original summons in the case and dismissing it, and retaining the cause in the circuit court for trial and determination is a judgment of such finality in its character, as that this Court has jurisdiction to review it upon writ of error or supersedeas. This question so far as I am advised has not heretofore been decided by this Court.

[794]*794Tlie judgment of the county court, which was re-by the circuit court, certainly was a final judg-It quashed the original summons, dismissed cauge ant] gave judgment against the plaintiff for costs> And the judgment of reversal by the circuit court was a final judgment in the cause, quoad the judgment of the county court, and brought the defendant into the circuit court to again defend the original cause upon its merits. It is true the cause was ordered to be retained in the circuit court for trial and determination thereof, which order was interlocutory in its nature, and before a trial was had in the circuit court, and a short time after the date of the judgment of reversal, the defendant applied for and obtained a writ of error and supersedeas to this Court to said judgment of the circuit court.

.But we are not without authority upon this subject. In the case of Brunbaugh v. Wissler’s ex’r., 25 Gratt. 463, it was held by the Court of Appeals of Virginia, that “when a circuit court, upon appeal, reverses the final' judgment of the county court and retains the cause for a new trial, the judgment of the circuit court is such a final judgment as is the subject of a writ of error.” The same was held in the case of Crawford v. The Valley Railroad Company, same report 467. And in the case of the Commonwealth v. Lewis & Diviney, it was held, that where “on a trial for a misdemeanor in a county court there is a verdict and judgment against the defendant, and the case is taken to the circuit court, where the judgment is reversed and the cause retained for a new trial, there may be a writ of error to the Court of Appeals from the judgment of the circuit court.”

I think upon the authoribies above cited that the said judgment of the circuit court, is such a final judgment as this Court has authority and jurisdiction to review upon writ of error and supersedeas.

Syllabus 2. The next quetion to be considered is: Is the des[795]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Simpkins v. White
27 S.E. 361 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1897)
Howell v. Behler
24 S.E. 646 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1896)
Woodward v. Woodward
28 W. Va. 200 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1886)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
14 W. Va. 790, 1879 W. Va. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-education-v-crawford-wva-1879.