Harris v. Miner

28 Ill. 135
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1862
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 28 Ill. 135 (Harris v. Miner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Miner, 28 Ill. 135 (Ill. 1862).

Opinion

Breese, J.

A preliminary question is raised by the defendant in error as to the bill of exceptions. The objection taken is, that it does not purport to contain all the evidence given in the cause. This we suppose is immaterial, unless the record shows a motion was made for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was contrary to evidence, and the motion was overruled by the court, and that decision of the court is assigned for error. The general rule is, that when the overruling a motion for a new trial on the ground of the verdict being contrary to the evidence is assigned for error, it should appear to the appellate court, that all the evidence given on the trial below is preserved for their examination. And it is immaterial whether that fact appears from an express averment to that, effect in the bill of exceptions, or is manifested in any other way. All that the court requires is to be satisfied, that it has before it all the testimony upon which the judgment is to be predicated. Stickney et al. v. Cassell, 1 Gilm. 420.

This record does not show such a state of case. One error assigned is, in overruling a motion for a new trial, but not on the ground the verdict' was contrary to the evidence.

Another objection is made, that neither the instructions which are complained of given on the part of the defendants, nor the exceptions thereto by the plaintiffs, appear in the record. They did not so appear in the original record, but do appear in an amended record, properly certified by the clerk, and duly filed in this cause.

Exceptions were taken to the ruling of the court admitting certain instructions which had been given in a trespass suit, which had been tried between those parties, in which the merits of this case were supposed to have been involved, and also admitting in evidence the files in the attachment suit of Campbell against Bunce, Pinto & Co., from whom the plaintiffs derived all the title they had to the property which occasioned this suit.

We are of opinion, on the first point made, that those instructions*should not have been read to the jury for any purpose. They may have been good law in the trespass suit, but cannot be considered as evidence in this cause. The jury were impanneled to hear the evidence in the case on trial, not what might have been the law in an action of trespass.

We are not advised that admitting the files of the attachment case in evidence was improper, as they might have been useful under the pleadings to identify the case. They could be used for no other purpose.

We will now consider the instructions which the amended record shows, were asked for by the plaintiffs and refused by the court and exceptions taken. The instructions refused are marked 2 and 3, and are as follows:

“2. In the action of trespass ‘ de bonis as-portaiis,’ when the title of property is in issue on due special pleas, the question of property is material, and must be passed upon in order to bar a subsequent action of assumpsit. The plea of ‘ not guilty5 in an action of trespass ‘ de bonis asportatisj puts in issue only the wrongful taking; and the simple verdict ‘ not guilty,’ applies only to the plea of not guilty, and determines only the question of wrongful taking, when the title of the-property is in issue under special pleas.”

“ 3. The law requires the sheriff first to levy and sell the-land of defendant in execution; and if the jury find from the-proof,"that the writ of attachment in favor of Erastus- Si Tracy (mentioned in said defendant’s special plea of formes recovery,) was first levied on lands of Bunce, Pinto & Co*.,, defendants in said writ, and also on the raft of logs in said* plea described, and that the plaintiffs, without notice of said levy, afterwards found said raft of logs in possession* of Bunce, Pinto & Co.,' the owners, (subject to* said levy.).,, and purchased the same in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, and took possession of the same under said sale; they became the owners thereof, subject only to the lien of said writ of attachment; and if the jury further find from the proof, that afterwards, while the same were in their possession, the writ of attachment in favor of Bi H. Campbell;, (in said special plea mentioned,) was levied on the same prop*erty; and if the jury should further find from the proof, that the land of defendants, Bunce, Pinto & Co., levied on, by said.’ writ of attachment in favor of Erastus S. Tracy, was after-wards sold under the special writ of fl. fa. issued on said judgment in favor of Erastus S. Tracy in said attachment suit, against the property attached, for a sum sufficient to satisfy said judgment and all costs, and commissions, and charges thereon, then in that case the raft of logs would be thereby released from said levy, by operation of law, and if sold by sai'd defendant after such release, the jury should find for the plaintiffs in this action, the amount said logs sold for, unless bound by the former recovery of said defendant in the action of trespass.”

As to the second instruction, no question is made, that it was applicable to the case, nor could there be, inasmuch as a portion of the record of the recovery in that case, was in evidence to the jury.

It appears the action was trespass for taking and carrying away certain goods and chattels, and the plea was, not guilty. The jury found that the defendant was not guilty of trespass. It was responsive to the declaration, and found the fact that no trespass had been committed by him.

This record does not show that any issue of property was presented by the pleadings in the trespass case. All we have here is the writ, declaration, and verdict of the jury, “ not guilty,” and therefore the court might well refuse to give the second instruction, as its calls upon the court to assume, without any proof that “ the title.of the property was in issue ■on due special pleas,” in that suit. The court was, doubtless, familiar with the principle that the plea of not guilty to an action of trespass for taking personal property, operated only .as a denial of the taking, determining nothing as to the right of property; but the question of property not being in the •case, the instruction was inapplicable.

As to the third instruction, the defendant’s counsel has ■offered no argument in support of the ruling of the court, .refusing to give it. Wé cannot understand why the court .refused it. It contains the law of the case—was pertinent to the issues in controversy, and arose out of the evidence in the cause, and no principle in it was affected by the recovery in the trespass suit. This action is for goods, wares and merchandise, sold and delivered—for work and labor, care and diligence—for money paid, laid out and expended, and lent and advanced, and had and received, by the defendant to the plaintiffs’ use, and on an account stated. The plea of a former recovery in the trespass suit, in which it appeared the' question of property in these goods was not involved, did not preclude the plaintiffs from showing that the defendant had converted certain property, belonging to them, into money, with or without authority, to which money they were entitled, and to sue for it as for money had and received to their use. It matters not how the property came into the possession of the defendant, whether by a trespass, or a bailment by the plaintiffs, or in any other way.

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Bluebook (online)
28 Ill. 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-miner-ill-1862.