Little v. Fearon

49 Pa. Super. 634, 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 384
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided March 1, 1912·No. Appeal, No. 19·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

Morrison, J.,

On .January 5, 1909, William F. Fearon, the defendant, recovered a verdict in an action brought by him against Henry Ashton Little, the husband of the plaintiff. The next day Little signed a bill of sale to his wife, the plaintiff, for certain personal property in their dwelling house and on the same day caused it to be recorded. The recording of the bill of sale amounts to nothing, because no act of assembly authorizes or requires such recording, and, therefore, the record does not give constructive notice to anybody. No actual change of the possession of the property took place, nor did the vendor withdraw from the possession thereof which he had previously had. The only consideration alleged to have passed from the wife to the husband for said personal property was that she credited him with the consideration named in the bill of sale on a note she held of his representing an alleged large indebtedness by him to her.

The defendant entered judgment on his verdict, issued execution and levied upon certain personal property as belonging to the husband. The wife interpleaded and claimed it all, including the articles specified in the bill of sale. The present issue was framed and at the trial the court charged the jury that the bill of sale was void as against Fearon and instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant for a specified sum, to wit, $3,175.85, being the alleged value of the goods transferred by the husband to the wife. Subsequently, it being conceded that the counsel and the court were in error as to this amount, a reduction was made from the verdict, by con[637]*637sent of the parties to the suit, so that it was reduced to the sum of $975.85, and judgment being entered thereon, the plaintiff appealed.

We will here refer to the assignments of error and will later discuss the merits of the case. The assignments are as follows: “1. The learned court erred in giving binding instructions to find for the defendant. 2. The learned court erred in directing the jury as to the amount of the verdict. 3. The learned court erred in failing to leave to the determination of the jury the question of fact as to the title of the goods. 4; The learned court erred in failing to leave to the jury the determination of the value of the goods. 5. The learned court erred in failing to give binding instructions to the jury in favor of the plaintiff.” Not one of these assignments complies with the rules of court and the decisions of the Supreme Court and of this court thereon. Numbers 1 and 2 complain of something alleged to have been said by the court to the jury in the general charge, but not a word or phrase is quoted from the charge ipsissimis verbis. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 complain of matters which the court did not say to the jury, but the plaintiff’s counsel filed no points for instructions and made no request of the court to so charge, either in writing or orally, so far as we can find from this record. Our old rule No. 15 which is substantially the same as the Supreme Court’s on the same subject, is as follows: “When the error assigned is to the charge of the court, or to answers to points or to findings of fact or law, the part of the charge or the points and answers or findings referred to must be quoted totidem verbis in the assignment.” The Supreme Court’s new rule upon this subject, No. 27 and our new rule, No. 15 are precisely alike and read as follows: “When the error assigned is to the charge of the court, or to answers to points, the part of the charge or the points and answers referred to must be quoted ipsissimis verbis in the specification, and the parts of the charge assigned as error shall be enclosed in brackets in the printed charge, with the number of the assignment noted.”

[638]*638An assignment of error is defective which fails to set out the points and answers or findings of the charge of the court totidem verbis: Kramer v. Boggs, 5 Pa. Superior Ct. 394; Lamb v. Leader, 6 Pa. Superior Ct. 50; May v. Troutman, 4 Pa. Superior Ct. 42; Ewing v. Cottman, 9 Pa. Superior Ct. 444; Dotterer v. Scott, 29 Pa. Superior Ct. 553, and Crawford & Moyes v. McKinney, 165 Pa. 605. An assignment of error will not be considered which does not quote the judge’s answer to a point totidem verbis, although it contains the point: Hall v. Phillips, 164 Pa. 494. When part of the charge of a judge is assigned as error, the part must be quoted in its exact words: Walton v. Hinnau, 146 Pa. 396. Specifications of error are defective which challenge in general terms the charge of the court in not deciding given questions of law, without reciting the charge or disclosing specific requests to so charge: Fry v. Flick, 10 Pa. Superior Ct. 362. Error cannot be assigned of what was not said by the judge below without a request to so charge: Burkholder v. Stahl, 58 Pa. 371. An assignment is defective which assigns error as follows: “In refusing to charge the jury as requested:” Ladley v. Express Co., 3 Pa. Superior Ct. 149. Assignments of error are an essential part of the pleadings, and as such they should be so complete in themselves as to show the judgment or decree of the court without reference to any other part of the record, which is remitted to the court below after the disposal of the appeal: Kunkel’s App.,192 Pa. 14, and Burkholder v. Stahl, 58 Pa. 371. The assignments of error, when filed, constitute the declarations of the appellant and specify the errors alleged to have been committed by the trial court. Errors not assigned in conformity with the rules of courts will be held to be no assignments at all: Kramer v. Boggs, 5 Pa. Superior Ct. 394; Grier v. Homestead Boro., 6 Pa. Superior Ct. 542; Thompson v. McConnell, 1 Grant, 396; Daniel v. Daniel, 23 Pa. 198; Bull’s App., 24 Pa. 286, and see Dietrich v. Adams, 9 W. N. C. 492, and Saxton’s Estate, 195 Pa. 459. An assignment of error as to what is not contained in the charge of the court [639]*639and to what has not been allowed as an exception will be disregarded: Harding v. Lloyd, 3 Pa. Superior Ct. 293; and Crawford v. Wittish & Graebing, 4 Pa. Superior Ct. 585. From the above authorities and many others that might be cited, we reach the conclusion that the assignments of error in the present case are so flatly in violation of the rules of court and of the decisions of the Supreme Court and of this court thereon, that we might refuse to consider them.

We do not find in the record any general exception to the charge of the court, nor do we find any request that the charge be copied and filed, nor do we find any certificate to the charge, testimony and record as required in order to bring the same before this court for review. In Stout v. Quinn, 9 Pa. Superior Ct. 179, the court, speaking through President Judge Rice, said: “They complain of certain instructions given to the jury on the trial of the case, but as no exception was taken to the charge, or request made to have it filed, before verdict rendered, and as the trial judge has declined to certify the transcript of the stenographer’s notes, these assignments of error could not be considered even if the appeal from the judgment were regular: Curtis v. Winston, 186 Pa. 492.” See also Kerns v. Insurance Co., 11 Pa. Superior Ct. 209.

To avoid the appearance of possible injustice to the appellant, we now propose to briefly examine the merits of this case, notwithstanding the condition of the record. The first and controlling question involved is the right of the court to give binding instructions that no title passed under the bill of sale from the husband to the wife as against the defendant creditor.

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

Little v. Fearon, 49 Pa. Super. 634, 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 384 (Pa. Ct. App. 1912).

49 Pa. Super. 634 (Little v. Fearon) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Emerick v. Braucht
11 Pa. D. & C. 760 (Centre County Court of Common Pleas, 1928)