Rae v. Harteau

7 Daly 95
New York Court of Common Pleas·Decided March 5, 1877·Published

Opinion

Robinson, J.

A judgment was recovered by plaintiff, in. the City Court of Brooktyn, against Lewis Beach; on the 2d day of October, 1872, for $527 96, which, on an appeal to the general term of that court, was affirmed by judgment finally entered May 15, 1875, with $131 66 costs of affirmance.

These defendants became sureties in an undertaking' given for the purposes of that appeal. The decision on such appeal appears by an order to that effect, dated April 28,, 1875, incorporated in the judgment roll and signed with the initials “ G. G. R.,” presumably those of Judge Reynolds, of that court, and also by the initials “ G. W. K.,” presumably those of George W. Knaebel, its clerk, but the costs were not taxed nor was the judgment perfected until May 15th, 1875. The undertaking contained the provisions required, by sections 354, 355 and 356 of the Code, relating to appeals to a. County Court from justices of the peace, or to this court from judgments of District Courts, instead of such as were required on appeals from such a judgment to the general term of the City Court of Brooklyn, by sec. 6, of chapter 470, of the Laws of 1870, assimilating such an appeal in all respects to that provided for m sections 348, 349 and 350 (chap. 4, tit. 11) of the Code, wherein provision is made for a stay of proceedings upon the order or judg[97]*97nient appealed from, in the manner provided for by sections 334 and 335. The complaint alleges the' entry of an order of affirmance of the judgment appealed from, on the 28th day of April, 1875, and the service of a copy thereof, on the 29th; also the issuing and return of executions upon the original judgment and that rendered on the appeal for costs wholly unsatisfied. The answer of the defendants, so far as material to the question now passed upon, admitted the filing in the office of the clerk of the City Court of Brooklyn, by plaintiff’s attorney of certain papers claimed to be a judgment in the original action, on October 2, 1872, for §527 96, and also papers claimed to be a judgment against the appellant, Lewis Beach, for costs of said appeal, for the sum of §131 66, on the 15th day of May, 1875, but denied all other allegations in respect to said judgments. The present action was commenced in July, 1876. The question that first presents itself on this appeal is as to the right of the plaintiff to maintain the action for want of service of any written notice of the entry of judgment of affirmance that was perfected on the 15th of May, 1875. In my opinion the objection to any recovery is on this ground fatal to plaintiff’s claim.

On the trial, the only notice which the plaintiff proved to have been served on his behalf, was a paper purporting to be a copy of the order signed by Judge Reynolds and the clerk, with their initials, before mentioned, but without any copy of said initials or any • indication that any such order had been previously signed or any notice of its ever-having been entered with the clerk of the court. The requirement of the entry of an order made upon any decision of a judge or court before any effect can be given to it is, under our system, a matter of substantial significance, and where granted by a judge in any judicial district, must be entered with the clerk of the county in which the trial is to be had or the judgment roll to be filed. And in this respect the final entry of an order upon the decision of a judge or court, however otherwise formal, becomes a matter of materiality. It was to such an “ entry ’’ of an order of affirm[98]*98anee that the 348th section of the Code has reference. Although, in such a local court as that of the City Court of Brooklyn, much of the reason for the distinction in reference to the decisions of the judges and the entry of orders thereon may not exist, the-intention of the statute is yet clearly expressed, and must have such construction as entitles it to a general application to all the courts of this State, to which a common mode of entry of orders of affirmance is prescribed, with a view to the various purposes in respect to which such a perfected order becomes in any respect material. If the present case depended alone upon the force and effect of the decision, and its entry as an order, a presumption might possibly be indulged that the clerk entered the order immediately after the decision was made.

The notices required by the Code are always such as <eiust be given in writing (sec. 408), and must be so explicit as plainly to give the information required by the statute. The paper served in this case of what was or was to be in terms an order of the general term, was without any indication of signature of judge or clerk, and with a mere indorsement of the title of the cause, followed by these words: “ Copy order affirming judgment. To Diefendorf & Beach, attorneys for appellant; Brainard- and Rice, attorneys for respondent.” It conveyed no proper intimation that anyr such order had been entered with the clerk of the court.

But notwithstanding such a written decision of the gen-, -eral term may have been entered with the clerk, it did not Become a judgment of affirmance, and no such judgment had Been perfected so as to become the subject of further appeal, .as contemplated by the provisions of the Code above referred to, at the time of serving such.papers styled “ copy order.”

The amendment to section 348 of the Code by the act of 1862, while providing that no action should be commenced upon any undertaking given in pursuance of the provisions of that section, until ten days after the service of notice of the entry of the order or judgment affirming the judgment appealed from, had in contemplation, in addition to [99]*99mere judgments appealed from, such orders so affirmed at the general term in respect to which further appeals might foe taken to the Court of Appeals, and also all such orders, or •affirmance of orders, appealed from, in respect to which security had been given on the appeal to effect a stay of proceedings thereon, pursuant to the provisions of sections 334 to 339 of the Code. (Staring v. Jones, 13 How. Pr. 423; Smith v. Heermanee, 18 id. 261; Niles v. Battershall, 26 id. 93.)

The 349th section, giving such right of an appeal from orders, provides they may be taken “ in like manner and with like effect,” as from judgments, as allowed by section 348. 'The manifest intention of the amendment of 1862 above referred to, passed-after the other provisions of sections 348 and 349 had gone into effect, and allowing appeals in common from judgments and orders, in like manner and with like effect,” must be taken distributively as requiring the notice of ten days to be given before suit brought on the undertaking in case of the affirmance of an order as well as upon the affirmance of a judgment. The object of the notice in either case, is to enable the principal debtor to protect his sureties, either by a further appeal to the Court of Appeals, or to provide for payment, before suit brought upon the undertaking, or to afford time to take some measures for their relief.

The decision upon the appeal taken by Beach, the principal, could in no way be effectually decided or disposed of by an order,” but only by a judgment of affirmance, duly perfected.

An order is but a decision upon a motion, and is expressly distinguished from a judgment (Code, sec. 400), which is defined (Code, sec. 245) as the final determination ■of the rights of the parties.

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Rae v. Harteau, 7 Daly 95 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1877).

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