Cunningham v. Jacobs

22 N.E. 335, 120 Ind. 306, 1889 Ind. LEXIS 412
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1889
DocketNo. 13,829
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 22 N.E. 335 (Cunningham v. Jacobs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cunningham v. Jacobs, 22 N.E. 335, 120 Ind. 306, 1889 Ind. LEXIS 412 (Ind. 1889).

Opinion

Coffey, J.

This was an action instituted in the Marion Superior Court upon an attachment bond executed in a suit, pending in Vermillion county, in the State of Illinois, which bond is as follows :

“Know all men by these presents, That we, James A. Cunningham and Amos S. Williams, are held and firmly bound unto Abraham Jacobs in the penal sum of three hundred and twenty dollars and — cents, lawful money of the United States, for the payment, of which said sum well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly and severally, by these presents. Sealed with our seals and dated this I8th day of January, 1882.

[307]*307“The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the above bounden James A. Cunningham has, on the day of the date hereof, prayed an attachment out of the circuit court of Vermillion county, at the suit of himself, against the estate of the above named Abraham Jacobs, for the sum of one hundred and sixty-five dollars and — cents, and the same being about to be sued out of said court, returnable on the first Monday of February, A. D. 1882, to the term of the said court then to be holden; now, if the said James A. Cunningham shall prosecute his said suit with effect, or in case of failure therein shall well and truly pay and satisfy the said Abraham Jacobs, all such costs in said suit, and such damages as shall be awarded against the said James A. Cunningham, his heirs, executors or administrators, in any suit or suits which may hereafter be brought for wrongfully suing out the said attachment, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.

(Signed) “ J. A. Cunningham, [seal.]

“ A. S. Williams.” [seal.]

It is averred as a breach .of the above bond that the'sheriff of Vermillion county, in the State of Illinois, by virtue of the writ of attachment issued in said proceeding, seized the goods and chattels of the appellee of the value of $8,000 ; • that the appellant, Cunningham, did not prosecute his said suit with effect, but that such proceedings were thereupon had in that suit that it was considered and adjudged by the said court and a jury that the appellee was not indebted to the appellant in any sum whatever, and that appellee recover of the appellant his costs therein ; that by the wrongful suing out of said writ of attachment appellee was obliged to, and did, expend large sums of money in and about the defence of the said suit, and was thereby deprived of the use and benefit of his said property for one year, and was greatly injured in his credit at said county and elsewhere, and was Wholly deprived and prevented from pursuing his business, and his said property so detained was greatly injured and [308]*308deteriorated in value, broken, lost, and destroyed; that he lost three months’ time in and about the defence of said suit, all to his damage in the sum of $500, which is due and unpaid.

A demurrer to the complaint for want of sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action was overruled, and the appellant excepted. Upon a trial of the cause the appellee recovered a judgment. .

The only question presented for our consideration relates to the sufficiency of the complaint as a cause of action.

It is contended by the appellant that an attachment proceeding was unknown to the common law, and that to make the complaint good the statute of the State of Illinois, if any exists, should have been set out with the complaint, to the end that the courts here might determine that such a proceeding was authorized by the laws of that State.

In the absence of any showing to the contrary, the presumption is that the common law prevails in the State of Illinois. Robards v. Marley, 80 Ind. 185; Rogers v. Zook, 86 Ind. 237; Supreme Council v. Garrigus, 104 Ind. 133.

With this presumption before us, we must presume, also, that the circuit court of Vermillion county, in the State of Illinois, is a common-law court, with all the powers, duties and jurisdiction attaching to such a tribunal. Such courts, have jurisdiction to hear and determine actions for the recovery of debts, and it affirmatively appears from the complaint before us that this was an action of that kind. The court, therefore, had jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the action.

Had no attachment issued, no question of the power of the court to act would arise, but as an attachment proceeding was instituted in connection with the main action, it becomes necessary to inquire into the nature and origin of the writ of attachment.

The writ of attachment in this country is essentially the creature of statute law. Attachment proceedings are not [309]*309only utterly devoid of any of the features of the common law, but they are so far in derogation of common right that an appeal to this remedy has never been specially favored by the courts. . Attachment amounts to the involuntary dispossession of the owner, prior to any adjudication to determine the rights of the parties. To some extent it is equivalent to execution in advance of trial and judgment. 1 Wade Attachment, section 2.

Ordinarily, attachment proceedings are commenced in aid of an action already pending, or at the time instituted, the object, being to make the property available for the payment of any judgment the plaintiff may recover in the main action by seizing the property of the defendant and holding it until the rendition of such judgment. ' We may assume that such was the object sought to be attained in the suit in which the bond now involved was executed. The question, therefore, arises, did the circuit court of Vermillion county, in the State of Illinois, have jurisdiction to issue the writ of attachment and require the bond which is the foundation of this action ?

In the case of Board, etc., v. Markle, 46 Ind. 96, it is said: “Any movement of a court is necessarily jurisdiction. ** 'If the law confers the power to render a judgment or decree, then the court has jurisdiction. What shall be adjudged or decreed between the parties, and with which is the right of the case, is judicial action by hearing and determining it.’ * * Where a court has jurisdiction, it has a right to decide every question which occurs in the cause; and whether the decision be. correct or not, its judgment,until reversed, is regarded as binding in every other court.’ * * 'Courts are established for the purpose of administering justice, and it is their duty, so far as they can discover the truth, to decide right. But the power to decide at all necessarily carries with it the power to decide wrong as well as right. In the present imperfect state of human knowledge, a power to hear and determine necéssarily carries with it a power which makes the determination obligatory, without any reference to the question [310]*310whether it was right or wrong. If this were not so, the judgment or determination of any court would be of no particular value. It might be attacked or avoided at pleasure, upon the ground that the court or judge had committed an error.’ ”

Assuming that the circuit court of Vermillion county had jurisdiction of the main action, let us suppose that the appellant in this case applied for a writ of attachment upon the ground that the Roman law was in force ip the State of Illinois, and made a showing which would have entitled him to the writ under that law.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 N.E. 335, 120 Ind. 306, 1889 Ind. LEXIS 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cunningham-v-jacobs-ind-1889.