Musser v. Harwood

23 Mo. App. 495, 1886 Mo. App. LEXIS 90
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 6, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 23 Mo. App. 495 (Musser v. Harwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Musser v. Harwood, 23 Mo. App. 495, 1886 Mo. App. LEXIS 90 (Mo. Ct. App. 1886).

Opinion

Hall, J.

It is true that the -jurisdiction of the supreme court “is defined and limited by the constitution” of this state, and that such jurisdiction is appellate only, with certain well known exceptions, such as cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, prohibition, etc. Vail v. Dinning, 44 Mo. 211. But under our practice act (sect. 3776, Rev. Stat.) it is the duty of the supreme court, in apjoeals or writs of error, to “ award a new trial, reverse or affirm the judgment or decision of [498]*498the circuit court, or give such judgment as such court ought to have given, as to them shall seem agreeable to law.” The same or similar provisions have been in force '-ever since the foundation of the state, and existed even prior thereto, under the territorial government. Meyer v. Campbell, 12 Mo. 607. The supreme court and the two courts of appeals have always exercised the power conferred by said provisions, and have rendered in appropriate cases such judgments as they have determined the circuit court should have rendered. Darrier v. Darrier, 58 Mo. 222 ; Durkel v. Chambers, 57 Mo. 576 ; Bell v. Railroad, 86 Mo. 612 (on re-hearing); Speak v. Dry Goods Co., 22 Mo. App. 122. It is too late at this day to Question the constitutionality of said provisions.

The supreme court had the power to reverse the judgment of the circuit court, and to render final judgment in favor of the defendant in the case of Robinson v. Musser ; it had the power to reverse such judgment and dismiss the petition in such case. Gatewood v. Hart, 58 Mo. 261; Jenkins v. McCoy, 50 Mo. 348; McGee v. Laramore, 50 Mo. 425.

A reversal of the judgment and dismissal of the petition by the supreme court would have been a final determination of the case. Did the simple reversal of the judgment, without remanding the case, have the same effect ? Both modes have been indiscriminately used by all the appellate courts of this state in finally determining cases. In the cases last cited the judgments were reversed and the petitions dismissed.

But in other cases to accomplish the same end the judgments have been simply reversed and the cases not remanded. In Bell r. Railroad {supra), the court held that the plaintiff had made no case and that the defendant ought to have had judgment in the circuit court, and finally disposed of and determined the case by simply reversing the judgment. In Walden v. Dudley (49 Mo. 422), the court held likewise, and simply reversed the judgment. And in Speak v. Dry Goods Co. (supra), the [499]*499St. Louis court of appeals, by Thompson, J., said: Ci The j ndgment will be reversed. The plaintiff has had his day in court, has failed to make out a case or to offer any evidence in contradiction of the evidence of defendant, which is clear, consistent, and entirely probable, and which shows that plaintiff has no case. It does not, therefore, appear that the ends of justice will be served by remanding the cause. The judgment will be reversed merely. It is so ordered.” We quote the above language as so clearly showing the practice in this state in this respect. It would be an endless and fruitless I ask to discover and cite all the cases in our reports, in which •cases have been finally determined by our appellate courts by simply reversing the judgment. We are clearly of the opinion that the supreme court, by ordering simply the reversal of the judgment in the case under discussion, intended to, and did, finally determine it, as said court had the full power so to do.

The judgment actually entered was a final judgment upon the merits, and was a complete bar to another suit on the same cause of action by the plaintiff, Robinson. 'The judgment of a simple reversal was entered in accordance with the opinion of the court, and, as has been said, it was intended to and did have'the effect stated.

By section 990, Revised Statutes, it is provided: “ In all civil actions or proceedings of any kind the party prevailing shall recover his costs against the other party, ■except in those cases in which a different provision is made by law.” Had the judgment which was entered by the clerk of the supreme court wholly followed the opinion and order of that court, it would have adjudged .against theplaintiff, Robinson, all the costs expended by the defendant, Musser, taxed in the circuit court as well as those taxed in the supreme court. And we think that the judgment entered did, in fact, do so. The words ‘his costs * * herein expended,” used in the judgment, in our opinion, mean the costs expended in the [500]*500case, and not those only expended in the supreme court» “Herein” refers to the case, and not to the court.

The case of Evans v. Wilder (b Mo. 313), cited by counsel for the defendants, is not an authority against our construction of the j udgment. The meaning of that case is made more clear by the subsequent case of Meyer v. Campbell (12 Mo. 607). A reading of the two cases* together will show that in the former the point decided by us was not in the mind of the court or alluded to in the case.

Under our practice act, as construed in actual practice since the formation of the state, a judgment by the supreme court, affirming the judgment of the circuit court, “is nota distinct and independent judgment of recovery, which may be enforced by execution, but purely a determination on the part of that court that the judgment of the circuit court is right, and that it should, therefore, remain in full force, and that the party holding it should no longer be restrained from enforcing it by execution.” The supreme court might, “no doubt, if it* were desirable, * * * enter a judgment of recovery, at the same time that a judgment of affirmance is given, and if it did so * * * no execution could then issue-upon the judgment of the circuit court, although an execution might issue upon the judgment of the supreme-court, either from the clerk’s office of that court, or of the circuit court.” Meyer v. Campbell, supra.

In Evans v. Wilder (supra), the judgment rendered by the supreme court was a judgment simply affirming the judgment of the circuit court, a judgment of recovery was not superadded, and it was, therefore, held that an execution issued on such judgment from the clerk’s office of the supreme court was good only for the costs made in that court. As to everything but the costs of the supreme court, the judgment of that court was a judgment that the circuit court proceed to execute its own judgment, which was pronounced to be valid and accordir to law, and in full force.

[501]*501That determination or decision of the supreme court having been duly certified to the circuit court, was to be carried into effect by an execution upon the judgment so declared to be affirmed. Meyer v. Campbell, supra.

Hence an execution could issue from the clerk’s office ■of the supreme court only for the costs of that court. And in such a case the practice has continued from the time of Evans v. Wilder, of an execution being issued from the clerk’s office of the supreme court for the costs of that court.

Such was all that was decided by Evans v. Wilder. It was not intimated that the supreme court did not have the power to itself ■ enforce by execution any judgment which it might render as its own distinct and independent judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
23 Mo. App. 495, 1886 Mo. App. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/musser-v-harwood-moctapp-1886.