Patterson v. Johnson

73 N.E. 761, 214 Ill. 481
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 73 N.E. 761 (Patterson v. Johnson) 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
Patterson v. Johnson, 73 N.E. 761, 214 Ill. 481 (Ill. 1905).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hand

delivered the opinion of the court:

It is first contended that the court erred in permitting the appellee to amend her bill by incorporating therein sections 57, 58 and 49 of certain ordinances of the city of Chicago, on the ground that said amendments are inconsistent with and repugnant to the bill as originally filed. We do not agree with this contention., The bill was filed to restrain the appellants from placing said frame blacksmith shop on lot 6, as it was claimed to remove the same from lot 2 to lot 6 would be in violation of an ordinance of the city of Chicago, and section 51 of an ordinance passed March 28, 1898, was pointed out as the section which would be violated. After the answers of appellants came in and it appeared lot 6 belonged to Patterson, who was also the owner of lots 2, 3, 4 and 5, and that a permit was not necessary from the commissioner of buildings, under said section 51, for Patterson to remove the building, as in removing it she would not pass over any land other than her own or over any public street, alley or public place, the appellee amended her bill by pointing out therein that the building was being removed in violation of sections 57 and 58 of said ordinance and section 49 of an ordinance as amended January 27, 1902. The object of the' bill and the basis of the relief sought thereby were the same after the amendment as before/—'that is, that the building was being removed in violation of certain sections of the ordinances of the city of Chicago. We do not think the amended bill set up a new cause of action, or that the grounds of relief relied upon in the amended bill were different from or inconsistent with the grounds relied upon in the original bill. In Bauer Grocer Co. v. Zelle, 172 Ill. 407, oh page 412, it was said: “The subject matter of the amended bill and the relief sought thereunder were germane to the original bill, and the evidence before the court disclosed the necessity and propriety of amending and broadening the pleadings. It was clearly within the discretion of the chancellor to allow the amended bill to be filed.” In Papin v. Goodrich, 103 Ill. 86, the bill as filed prayed for a specific performance of the contract, but by a subsequent amendment, made by leave' of court, the prayer was changed to that of cancellation of the contract. On page 94' it was said: “We do not see why * * ' * the amendment was not properly allowed. The defendants had no vested rights in the phraseology or form of the bill.”

It is also urged that it was error to permit the last amendment setting up section 49 of the ordinance, as the amendment was not sworn to. It has been held it is proper to allow amendments to a sworn bill where such course tends to prevent a failure of justice. (Thomas v. Coultas, 76 Ill. 493.) The ordinance had been admitted in evidence before the master, without objection, prior to the time the amendment was made and fully supported the motion to amend, and the amendment was made that the allegations of the bill might correspond with the proofs. While a proper practice would have required the amendment to have been sworn to, it was not reversible error to permit the bill to be amended without the amendment being sworn to, in view of the condition of the record at the time the amendment was made.

In Bauer Grocer Co. v. Zelle, supra, on page 4x2, it was said: “The evidence already before the court was sufficient to support the motion for leave to make the proposed amendment, and it was therefore not necessary that the rule announced in Jones v. Kennicott, 83 Ill. 484, that the proposed amendment to a sworn bill should be first submitted to the court in writing, verified by affidavit, should have been enforced.”

In Hawkins v. Hunt, 14 Ill. 42, on page 44, the court said: “It was suggested on the argument that the bill was not sworn to, and that therefore the complainant was not entitled to an injunction to prevent a transfer of the note. He may not have entitled himself to an injunction, in the first instance, on filing his bill without having sworn to it; but if upon a final hearing the case shows that he is entitled to an injunction to prevent a transfer of the note, or to a decree requiring it to be surrendered up and canceled, or to any other relief, the court will not refuse to grant it because the bill was not sworn to.”

In Booth v. Wiley, 102 Ill. 84, after the evidence was all in the complainant was allowed, over the objection of the defendant, to amend his bill. No affidavit was filed in support of the motion. On page 99 the court said: “This is clearly no ground of error. The court is specially invested with power, by statute, to allow amendments to be made to bills, pleas, answers and replications, on such terms as it may deem proper. (Chap. 22, Rev. Stat. 1874, title ‘Chancery,’ sec. 37.) In Jefferson County v. Ferguson, 13 Ill. 33, four amendments were allowed to the bill, two of which were after the case had been argued and while it was under advisement in the circuit court, and it was held this was not error but that it was within the discretion of the court. In Mason v. Bair, 33 Ill. 194, it was held not to be error to allow the bill to be amended after replication filed and the cause submitted upon the evidence; and in Marble v. Bonhotel, 35 Ill. 240, the complainant was allowed to amend his bill after answer filed, proofs taken and a motion made to dissolve the injunction, and it was held not to be erroneous. The principle that such amendments are purely discretionary, and ordinarily and in the absence of evidence of an abuse of a reasonable discretion not the subject of review, is too well settled to justify argument or extended comment.”

After the master’s report was filed the appellants were ruled to answer said amendments, and before the time to answer, as fixed by the rule, had expired a final decree was entered, and the decree is said for that reason to have been prematurely entered. After the rule was entered the appellants moved to vacate the same, which motion was denied, whereupon a decree was entered. No objection was made to the entry of the decree at the time it was entered because the rule to plead had not expired, and no motion was made to vacate the decree after it was entered on the ground it was prematurely entered. The objection cannot be made in this court for the first time.

It is next contended that sections 57 and 58 are unconstitutional and void. While no express power has been pointed out authorizing municipalities organized under the City and Village act to pass ordinances regulating the construction or removal of wooden buildings within their corporate limits outside the “fire limits,” the city council or board of trustees of a city or village organized under that act has the power to declare what shall be considered nuisances and to abate and remove the same, and to regulate the police of the town, and we think the power to regulate the construction or removal of wooden buildings anywhere within the corporate limits of such municipalities is clearly implied as incident to those powers, although such powers are conferred upon such municipalities only in general terms.

In Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co. v. Haggerty, 67 Ill. 113, on page 115, the court said: “There is no grant of power to this town, in express terms, to regulate the rate of speed of railway trains passing through the town, but by its charter (Private Laws of 1857, pp.

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Bluebook (online)
73 N.E. 761, 214 Ill. 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-johnson-ill-1905.