Perkins v. Sierra Nevada Silver Mining Co.

10 Nev. 405
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1876
DocketNo. 719
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 10 Nev. 405 (Perkins v. Sierra Nevada Silver Mining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perkins v. Sierra Nevada Silver Mining Co., 10 Nev. 405 (Neb. 1876).

Opinion

By the Court,

Hawley, G. J.:

On the thirtieth day of May, A. d. 1863, Frank Perkins (appellant), and Alexander G-reenhalgh, as plaintiffs, obtained a judgment in the district court of the first judicial district against defendant (respondent), which, after a recital of facts, reads as follows: “Now, in consideration of the law and the premises, it is considered, ordered and adjudged, that the said plaintiffs recover the possession of and from the said defendant, of the said one hundred and twenty-five feet undivided interest in the said mining ground; provided, nevertheless, that the plaintiffs shall have no writ of restitution or other process on this judgment unless they shall pay within twenty days from this date to the defendant the sum of six thousand dollars ($6000), that is to say, the sum of forty-eight dollars upon each of said feet; and it is further considered, ordered and adjudged, that unless the said sum of six thousand dollars be paid to the defendant within twenty days, in United States gold coin, from this date, the plaintiffs shall never hereafter have any writ of restitution, or other writ or process, upon said judgment for the recovery or possession of the said one hundred and twenty-five feet, and that plaintiffs shall be forever debarred of and from all claim, right and title to, or property or interest in said interest, equal to one hundred and twenty-five feet.”

On the eighth day of June, A. D. 1874, eleven years after the entry of said judgment, Frank Perkins, having in the meantime acquired the interest of his co-plaintiff, by his attorneys moved the court “that a writ of restitution or such other process as may be proper to place the said * * [411]*411Perkins in possession of tbe undivided interest in the mining ground of the said defendant mentioned and described in the judgment, * * * be issued on said judgment, or-ín the event that said judgment shall not be regarded by the court as a final judgment, for a final judgment in said action and a writ of restitution or other proper process thereon.”

This motion was based on the judgment-roll and the papers on file in said action and the affidavits of Prank Perkins and P. H. Clayton, filed with the motion.

The affidavit of Perkins states, among other things, that within the twenty days specified in the judgment the assessment of forty-eight dollars per foot was paid by plaintiffs to the defendant, and “that no writ of restitution, or other process, has ever been issued on said judgment.”

This appeal is from the order of the court denying appellant any relief upon said motion.

It is contended by appellant that the judgment was contingent and interlocutory, not final. , What is a final judgment? This question has been frequently decided by the courts. A judgment or decree is final that disposes of the issues presented in the case, determines the costs, and leaves nothing for the future consideration of the court. When no further action of the court is required in order to determine the rights of the parties in the action, it is final; when the cause is retained for further action it is interlocutory. (Smith v. Saler, 1 Neb. 310; Choteau v. Rice et al., 1 Minn. 26; Kelley et al. v. Stanberry et al., 13 Ohio, 421; Jenkins v. Wild, 14 Wend. 542.)

Our statute defines a judgment to be “ the final determination of the rights of the parties in the action or proceeding. (1 Comp. L. 1208.) “This definition,” says Mr. Freeman, in his very excellent work on Judgments, “is just broad enough to comprise all final judgments and all final decrees, and narrow enough not to comprise any which is less than final.” (Sec. 14.)

In the California State Telegraph Co. v. Patterson, this Court said that, “If the record discloses that the decision [412]*412of the court finally disposed of the action, and nothing further was to be done by it to complete that disposition, that surely was a final judgment from which an appeal would lie.” (INev. 155.)

The question whether the judgment in the case under consideration was final, must be determined with reference to the facts and issues presented by the record. The action was ejectment, and was instituted by plaintiffs to recover one hundred and seventy-five feet undivided interest in certain mining ground then alleged to be in the exclusive possession of the defendant. The complaint contained the usual averments in such actions. The answer denied all the allegations of the complaint. The real question at issue was as to the ownership of, and right of possession to said one hundred and seventy-five feet of mining ground. "We think the judgment settled all the issues involved in the suit, and was a final determination of the rights of the parties in that particular action. The judgment was certainly complete and final without the proviso. It appears from the recital of facts ■ — not from any allegations in the pleadings — that at the time of the entry of said judgment there was an assessment of forty-eight dollars per foot against said interest in said mining ground, which the plaintiffs agreed to pay. It does not appear from the record, although it is so stated by appellant, that the cause was tried before a jury. This fact is, however, immaterial, as the judgment was entered by consent. The fact that the respective parties, in open court, consented that no writ of restitution should issue unless the amount due for assessments was paid within twenty days after the entry of judgment, and the further fact that this agreement or stipulation was made part of the record, does not, in our opinion, in any manner affect the validity or finality of the judgment.

What is a judgment? “At law,” says'Wright, O. J., in delivering the opinion in Kramer v. Rebman, ‘ the judgment is yea or nay, for one party and against the other; and recognizes no liens, awards no execution against specific property, unless when the proceeding is in rem; but simply [413]*413contains tbe conclusion of the law upon the facts proved, and leaves the party to his legal and appropriate writ or process to enforce it.” (9 Iowa, 117.) Leaving out the proviso, we have just such a judgment. Independent of the judgment, counsel had the right to stipulate when, and upon what terms and conditions, the writ should issue, and such a stipulation, if made upon a good consideration, would be binding upon the parties; but the question as to the amount of assessments due was not an issue in the case, and hence did not properly belong to or constitute a part of the judgment, which should always be but a simple sentence of the law upon the ultimate facts admitted by the pleadings or found by the court. (Gregory v. Nelson, 41 Cal. 282.) The conditions in the proviso being entirely foreign to the issues made or tendered by the pleadings, have no force or effect either “asa finding of fact, conclusion of law, or judgment of the court upon the subject-matter embraced therein.” (Id. 284.)

It is a well-established principle of law that the findings of a court should be confined to the facts at issue, and the judgment of the court must be warranted by the pleadings. (Burnett v. Stearns, 33 Cal. 473; Bachman v. Sepulveda, 39 Cal. 689; Marshman v. Conklin, 21 N. J. Eq. 548; Munday v. Vail, 34 N. J. Law, 418; Dodge et al. v. Wright, 48 Ill.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Nev. 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-sierra-nevada-silver-mining-co-nev-1876.