Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Ray

124 Tenn. 16
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 124 Tenn. 16 (Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Ray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Ray, 124 Tenn. 16 (Tenn. 1910).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Neil

delivered the opinion of the Court.

■ These two actions were brought in the circuit court of Davidson county against plaintiffs in error for an injury caused to James L. Ray, a minor about twelve years of age, as the result of his jumping from a freight car, the property of plaintiffs in error. The first action was brought by the father, and the second in behalf of the boy himself by next friend.

In the first case there was a recovery of $1,000, and in- the second one of $2,500. The facts will be stated more at large when we reach the second branch of the case.

The first point presented is that the motion for new trial was not disposed of until the expiration of thirty days from the rendition of the judgments, and therefore that the matter was coram non judice, when the trial judge acted upon the motion. The verdict in each case was rendered on June 3, 1910, and judgment was rendered thereon on the same date. Motion for new trial was marked “Filed”'by the clerk of the trial court on the 29th day of June, 1910, called up by the court for hearing July 5, 1910, continued until the 6th, on which [23]*23latter day it was argued and Reid under advisement' until July 9, 1910, when it was overruled. At the Rearing of tRis motion, defendant in error objected to its consideration, upon the ground that any action relative tRereto was beyond tRe power of tRe court, because tRe time for appeal expired after tRe expiration of tRirty days from tRe date of tRe judgment on tRe verdict, relying upon Acts 1885, cRapter 65, sections 1, 2. Plaintiffs in error prayed an appeal to the court of civil appeals, and on tRat date, July 9,1910, were granted tRirty additional days to give bond and perfect tRe appeal. WRen tRe case reached the court of civil appeals, the same point was there made and overruled. TRat court then proceeded to consider the case upon its merits and sustained the motion for peremptory instructions which Rad been made in the court below. Thereupon a petition was filed in this court for the writ of certiorari.

Prior to the act of 1885 was Acts 1871, c. 59, which was as follows:

“In all cases in the inferior courts of this State, wherein an appeal to the supreme court may hereafter be prayed and granted upon the terms now imposed by law, and the party appealing is a resident of another county or State, or is unable, by reason of physical inability, to be present, the court granting said appeal, may, in its discretion, allow the appellant time in no case exceeding tRirty days, in which to give bond or file the pauper’s oath for the prosecution of said appeal, and such appeal bond approved by the clerk of the court from which the appeal is taken, or the pauper’s oath [24]*24filed with said clerk within the time allowed by the court, shall render said appeal as effectual as if done as now required by the law, during the term of court at which the judgment appealed from was rendered.”

Before the. act of 1871 the practice in chancery causes was for the chancellor to grant such length of time as he might see proper, even beyond the end of the term, for the execution of a bond for an appeal previously prayed (McPhartridge v. Gregg, 4 Cold., 324, 326; Andrews v. Page, 2 Heisk., 634, 638; Adamson v. Hurt, 3 Shan. Cas., 424; Davis v. Wilson, 85 Tenn., 383, 5 S. W., 285); but no such power was recognized as belonging to the circuit courts (James Ricks, ex parte, 7 Heisk., 364). To correct this practice, and to- make the rule uniform in both circuit and chancery courts, the act of 1871 was passed. That act, however, was construed by this court in Jackson v. McDonald, 2 Leg. Rep., 21, 2 Shannon’s Tenn Cases, 556, to mean that the grace given for execution of the bond should be computed from the day of the adjournment of the court, and not from the time at which it was granted. The resuit of this construction was that there were frequently great delays in the prosecution of appeals, and often they were not prosecuted at all after long indulgence had been granted under this construction, thereby delaying the enforcement of the judgment without any security to cover contingencies that might arise between the adjournment of the court and the time allowed; To meet this hardship, a great-hardship, where the terms [25]*25were long, covering several months, as in the cities, the act of 1885 was passed. It was as follows:

“Section 1. That hereafter when an appeal, or an appeal in the nature of a writ of error, is prayed from a judgment or decree of an inferior court to the supreme court, the appeal shall be prayed for and appeal bond shall be executed, or the pauper’s oath taken, within thirty days from the judgment or decree, if the court •hold so long; otherwise, before the adjournment of the court; but, for satisfactory reasons, shown by affidavit or otherwise, and upon application made within the thirty days, the court may extend the time to give bond or take the oath in term or after adjournment of the court; but in no case more than thirty days additional.
“Sec. 2. That in all cases where the appeal has not been prayed for within the time prescribed in the first section of this act, the judgment or decree may be executed.”

, This act covers all the ground previously covered by Acts 1871, chapter 59, and was intended to take its place, and the two were improperly amalgamated in section 4898 of Shannon’s Code.

■ We thus see the evil which was intended to be remedied by the act of 1885 and the previous act. There was no purpose on the part of the legislature to interfere with the practice upon the subject of motions for new trial. It was held by this court in the case of Railroad v. Johnson, 16 Lea, 387, that it could not be evaded on the theory that the judgment was within the breast of the judge during the term, and that he could set it [26]*26aside after the expiration of thirty days and enter a new judgment, from which the appeal could be prosecuted. It was held in Ellis v. Ellis, 92 Tenn., 471, 22 S. W., 1, that a motion to set aside a judgment by default could not be maintained, if made more than thirty days after the entry of such judgment, under the act of 1885 aboye reproduced; but in so doing the court pointedly remarked that no application had been made for a new trial within thirty days from the rendition of the final judgment, and no sufficient excuse had been given why the motion was not made within that time. This qualification indicated that, if there had been such motion made within thirty days, it could have been maintained and acted upon after the expiration of that period. Such, indeed, has been the universal practice of the circuit courts, the understanding of this court, -and the view entertained by the bar in general, since the passage of the act of 1885. The judgment in. the circuit court is entered by the clerk as a matter of course when he records the verdict. Shannon’s Code, sec. 5892, subsec. 3. At common law there was always an interval between the entry of the verdict and the entry of the judgment within •which time the motion for new trial could be made. There is no interval under our practice.

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Bluebook (online)
124 Tenn. 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-nashville-railroad-v-ray-tenn-1910.