Mootry v. Grayson

104 F. 613, 44 C.C.A. 83, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3956
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 1, 1900
DocketNo. 593
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 104 F. 613 (Mootry v. Grayson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mootry v. Grayson, 104 F. 613, 44 C.C.A. 83, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3956 (9th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge,

after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

It is contended on behalf of the appellant that the circuit court erred in finding that the district court of the Third judicial district of Idaho had jurisdiction to make and enter the decree and order of sale of November 16, 1895. This contention is based upon the claim that the decree of the district court of May 5, 1890, was a final decree, and before it had been modified in any way the term of the court had expired. It does not appear necessary to determine whether [616]*616this decree as a whole was final or interlocutory. It may have been final in determining the right of the plaintiff to have a partition of the property. It may have been final, also, in adjudicating upon the question as to the respective shares of the co-tenants in the property, but it was not final as to the execution of the decree. The interlocutory character of this part of the decree is fully established by its terms. It provides that certain property shall be reserved from sale, and the remainder sold as one lot or parcel, for a sum of not less than $200,000; but it also expressly provides for a modification of the direction and limitation of the decree upon the order of sale by waiver of such conditions by the parties to the action, or by order of court upon notice to all the parties. The order of the court of July 19, 1895, appointing a receiver and modifying the decree of May 5, 1890, so as to provide for the sale of the property for a sum not less than $75,000 instead of $200,000, was made in open court upon stipulation and by agreement of counsel and by consent of the parties to the action. The decree for sale entered by the court on November 16, 1895, modifying the previous decree so as to provide for the sale of the property without any limitation as to price, was made upon the motion of the plaintiff, and the decree recites that the defendants appeared by their counsel; that the parties to the suit may become purchasers at the sale; that certain surface ground be reserved to one of the defendants; and that, all parties consenting thereto, the property and premises described shall be sold together as one lot or parcel.

From these recitals it sufficiently appears that the modifications of the original decree were made by the court upon notice to all the parties to the action, and by a reasonable inference it further appears that the direction and limitation of the original decree with respect to the order of sale were waived by the parties,' and the orders of July 19, 1895, and November 16, 1895, entered by consent. But, as the consent of the parties to the action cannot give the court jurisdiction of a case that is otherwise without its jurisdiction, the recitals in the modifying orders or decrees in this behalf are only material with respect to the question of jurisdiction, as showing that the modifying orders were made and entered in conformity with, and in execution of, the original decree.

In Turner v. Railway Co., 8 Biss. 380, 24 Fed. Cas. 367 (No. 14,259), original decrees were entered in a foreclosure suit in the circuit court of the United States for the Southern district of Illinois, and in the circuit court of the district of Indiana, directing the master in chancery in each of the courts to sell the main line of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway Company, extending from Indianapolis, in the state of Indiana, to Peldn, on the Illinois river, in the state of Illinois. In May, 1878, these decrees were amended by the circuit court, and the sale of the road made in October, 1878. Among the exceptions taken to the proceedings leading up to the sale of the property was the objection that the court had' no authority to amend its decree after the term of the court had expired in which the original decree was entered. The circuit judge disposed of this objection in the following language:

[617]*617“The facts were that the original decree was entered on the 18th of July, 1877, and the amendment was made in May, 1878. I admit the rule which denies the power of the court over a decree after the term when it was rendered. It cannot change or alter the essential parts of the decree. But what was the order made by the court in May, 1878? It is termed a further direction for the execution of the decree theretofore entered. The original decree provided that the property should be sold on a certain number of days’ publication. That was changed by the amendment. The original decree provided for the distribution of the funds arising from the sale in a particular manner. That was changed by the amendment of May, 1878. But these things did not affect the substance of the decree. Of the right of the court to make that order, I cannot doubt.”

An appeal from the final order confirming the sale in this case was taken to the supreme court of the United States, where the order of sale, under the directions of the amended decree, was affirmed. Air. Justice Harlan, in rendering the decision of the court, refers to the questions that may be considered upon such an appeal. He says:

“Appellants elected not to appeal from the Anal decree, although it necessarily involved every question affecting the jurisdiction of the circuit court. That decree is consequently not before us for any purpose, except to ascertain from an inspection thereof whether the sale was conducted in conformity with its provisions. In such cases, upon an appeal, not from the Anal decree, but only from one in execration thereof, the court will not examine the record prior to such decree, * * * but will assume that the Anal decree being-passed by a court of general jurisdiction, and not showing upon its face a want of jurisdiction as to subject-matter or parties, was within the power of the court to render. Whether the order conArming the sale would have been erroneous had the decree itself disclosed affirmatively a want of jurisdiction is a question which need not be decided.”

The learned judge then refers to the assignments of error, and, among others, to the objection that the circuit court had amended its decree after the expiration of the term in which it was entered. With respect to this and certain other objections, he says:

“We do not stop to consider whether these objections And any support in the record, since it is sufficient to say that, if any such errors exist, they necessarily inhere, some in the Anal decree of foreclosure and sale, and others in the orders which preceded it. They cannot he examined upon an appeal merely from the order confirming the report of sale. Our authority extends, as we have shown, no further than to an examination of the exceptions tiled by appellants to the report of sale, from the order conArming- which this appeal is taken. And some of these exceptions plainly have reference, not to the sale itself, but to the Anal decree of foreclosure, such, for instance, as that the terms of sale were too onerous; that the property was sold subject to various claims, the amount of which was wholly uncertain; aild that the court had no jurisdiction in the case.” Turner v. Trust Co., 106 U. S. 552, 556, 557, 1 Sup. Ct. 523, 27 L. Ed. 275.

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Bluebook (online)
104 F. 613, 44 C.C.A. 83, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mootry-v-grayson-ca9-1900.