Harden v. Moores

7 H. & J. 4
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedDecember 15, 1825
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 7 H. & J. 4 (Harden v. Moores) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harden v. Moores, 7 H. & J. 4 (Md. 1825).

Opinion

Buchanan, Ch. J.

delivered the opinion of the court. This is the case of an attachment, issued out of Harford county court, on a judgment obtained against George G. Preshury, in Baltimore county court, which, after interrogatories filed and answered by the garnishee, was quashed by the court, on motion.

The question to which we have directed our attention is, whether an attachment will lie in any and what case, from one county court, on a judgment rendered in another? And that depends on the construction of several acts of assembly, which will be very briefly considered. Under the aet of 1715, ch. 40, s. 7, “the plaintiff in a judgment may, instead of any other execution, take out an attachment against the goods, chattels and credits, of the defendant in the judgment.” But that act only authorises the suing out attachments on judgments, from the courts in which the judgments are rendered, and has no application to this case.

By the act of 1715, ch. 41, s. 8, if a defendant in a judgment shall fly, remove, or absent himself out of the county in which the judgment is rendered, the plaintiff may take a transcript of the record of the judgment, under seal, and lay it before the court of the county in which the defendant may happen to be, to lie entered upon the records of such county, upon which, that court is authorised to award execution by capias ad satisfaciendum, fieri facias or attachment.

That act relates only to the case of a defendant who shall fly, remove, or absent himself from the county in which a judgment is rendered against him; and though, by that act, an attachment, by way of execution, will lie from one county court, on a judgment rendered in another, yet it is a pi-oceeding authorised only in the court of the county in which the defendant may be, and on the production alone of a transcript of the record of such judgment, under the seal of the court in which it was obtained. Which certainly is not this case. It is not the case of an attachment awarded fay Harford county court on the production of a transcript of the record of a judgment rendered in Baltimore county court against Preshury, who had fled, removed, or absented himself from Baltimore county, and was then in Harford. county; but of an attachment, sued out of Harforcl county [10]*10court, on a return to that court of nulla bona, by the sheriff of .Harford county, on a writ 'of fieri facias issued out of Baltimore county court, and directed to him, upon a judgment rendered in Baltimore county court against Presbury, accompanied by the production of a short copy of the judgment. And to show that the attachment regularly issued, the acts of October 1777, ch. 12, s. 3; 1794, ch. 54, s. 9, and 1795, ch. 23, s. 1, have been referred to, by which it will be seen, on examination, do- not authorise such a proceeding.

By the act of October 1777, ch. 12, s. 3, if a defendant in a judgment shall remove from the county in which the judgment is rendered, to any other county, an execution may issue from the court in which the judgment was rendered, to the sheriff of the county in which the defendant shall reside, returnable to the court of that county; and it is only made necessary for the plaintiff to produce a short copy- of the judgment before the court, to which the execution is returnable, to entitle himself to the benefit of such execution. The act of 1715, ch. 41, it has been seen, relates to the case of an absconding debtor, and authorises an attachment to be awarded by the court oí the county in which he may happen to be, on the production of a transcript of the record, and in no other case.

The act of October 1777, ch. 12, relates to the case of a removal by the defendant, for the purpose of residence; in which the execution is to be issued from the court in which the judgment was rendered, returnable to the court of the county in which the defendant may reside; with no authority to that-court to issue any execution by attachment or otherwise, on the production of a short copy of the judgment; which was the «nly evidence that was produced in this case to the court of Harford county, of a judgment against Presbury in Baltimore county court. The ninth section of the act of 1794, ch. 54, gives to judgment creditors this further remedy, that upon the return of nulla bona on a fieri facias, issued in the county, in which a judgment has been obtained, the clerk of the court of that county is authorised to issue an execution against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements, of the defendant, in any other county, returnable to the court of the county in which such goods and chattels, lands and tenc[11]*11merits, may be and lie, without respect to the residence of the defendant. And by this act too, it is only made necessary for the plaintiff, to entitle himself to the benefit of such execution, to produce before the court, to which it shall be returnable, a short copy of the judgment. This act, no more than the act of October 1777, ch. 12, authorises the issuing an execution of any kind, out oí any county court, on the production of a short copy of a judgment rendered in a different county. But like that act, does no more than give authority to the clerk of a county court, in which a judgment is rendered, to issue an execution on such judgment, returnable to the court of another county; with this difference only, that by the act of 1777, ch. 12, an execution so issued, is to be returned to the court of the county in which the defendant shall reside, and by the act of 1794, ch. 54, to the court of the county in which the goods- and chattels, lands and tenements, of the defendant, may be and lie. An attachment is not an ordinary process, by which to arrive at the fruits of a judgment, and will only lie, when-specially authorised; as by the act of 1715, ch, 40, s. 7, from the court in which the judgment was rendered, against the goods, chattels and credits, of the absent defendant; and by the 'act of 1715, ch. 41, s. 8, from the court of the county in which a defendant may happen to be, who has fled,, removed, or absented himself from the county in which the judgment was rendered, upon the production of a transcript of the record. The-proceeding by attachment, therefore, is not considered as embraced or intended by the general term execution, as used in theactsof October 1777, ch. 12, and 1794,ch. 54, which is only to be understood, according to its ordinary and familiar acceptation. And the act of 1795, ch. 23, s. 1, which has been mainly relied upon, authorises the same kind of execution only that is authorised by the acts'of 1777, ch. 12, and 1794, ch. 54, and-gives no original authority to the court of one county to issue • an attachment in nature of an execution, or any other execution on a judgment rendered in another. But only authorises, when executions have been sent from one county to another, according to the provisions of the acts of 1777, ch. 12, and 1794, ch. 54, the same kind of executions to be renewed out of the county court, to which the preceding executions wore. [12]

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

Related

First National Bank v. Corporation Commission of North Carolina
161 Md. 508 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1932)
Brunsman v. Crook
101 A. 1019 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1917)
Johnson v. Lemmon
37 Md. 336 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1873)
Watkins v. Dorsett
1 Md. Ch. 530 (Maryland Chancery Ct, 1828)
Cape Sable Co. Case
3 Md. Ch. 606 (Maryland Chancery Ct, 1823)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 H. & J. 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harden-v-moores-md-1825.