Randall v. Jacksonville Street Railroad

19 Fla. 409
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1882
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 19 Fla. 409 (Randall v. Jacksonville Street Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randall v. Jacksonville Street Railroad, 19 Fla. 409 (Fla. 1882).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Westcott

delivered the opinion of the court on the motion.

On the fifteenth day of the term this motion is made to docket the case for hearing at this term. It is an appeal from an order of May 2, A. D. 1881, dissolving an injunction before that time granted in the cause, the appeal being applied for and entered on the 6th day of June, A. D. 1881. Notice of appeal was accepted on that day. This term commenced on the 14th day of June, and the appeal was “ to the Supreme Court of Florida, to the 27th day of June, A. D. 1881, a day in term,” of the next ensuing term of the said Supreme Court.

The appeal here was applied for in vacation.

This motion involves and requires the construction of the third and fourth sections of the act of February 10, 1832, which regulate the mode of prosecuting appeals in chancery. Duval’s Compilation, 108, 109 ; Thomp. Dig., 146, 448. - .

So much of the third section of the act referred to as ap[414]*414plies to this appeal taken in vacation is in this language: Section 3. “ If the appeal be applied for in vacation the appeal bond shall be approved by the Clerk, and at least twenty-five days’ notice of such appeal shall be given to the appellee before the first day of the term of said Supreme Court at which said appeal is to be tried.”

Section 4. “ That it shall be the duty of the party appellant to demand from the Clerk a true copy of all proceedings in such cause in the Circuit Court, and to file said copy with the Clerk of the Supreme Court on or before the first day of the next succeeding term thereof, unless.the said succeeding term shall commence within thirty days after the obtaining of such appeal, and then the said appeal shall be entered as soon after the first day of the next succeeding term thereafter of said Supreme Court as will admit of twenty days’ notice thereof being given. If the party appellant fail to file the proceedings as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the said court, unless good cause be shown, to dismiss said appeal on the adverse party producing a certificate from the Clerk of the court below that an appeal has been obtained and a bond given.” The remainder. of the section regulates the proceeding in the Circuit Court upon the receipt of the order dismissing the appeal, and it is unnecessary to insert it here.

It is clear that the 4th section of this act contemplates two different days or periods in a term of this court upon which the the transcript of the record of a decree in chancery from which an appeal has been taken shall be filed. One of these days is the first day of the term. It is also clear that this requirement (filing upon the first day of the term) applies to all eases except those where thirty days does not intervene between the obtaining of the appeal and the “ commencement ” or the first day of the next succeeding term of this court, and as to these the “ appeal [415]*415shall be entered ” as soon after the first day of the next term as will admit of twenty days’ notice thereof being given. Erom this it is evident that the words “ appeal shall be entered ” embrace in their meaning the filing of the record, to which matter the first sentence of the section principally refers, because, without such construction, the time of the filing of a record after the first day of the term in appeals ■taken within thirty days before its commencement would not be provided for, while from the very words of the statute one of its purposes was to designate such day. Now, what is the day fixed for the-filing of the record in such case? We think from the language of the statute it is a day after the first day of the term which will admit of twenty days’ notice of the obtaining of the appeal. The term “ thereafter ” refers to the terms “ obtaining of such appeal,” and the notice to be given is clearly .twenty days’ notice of obtaining the appeal. The necessary result is that in cases where the term of this court commences within thirty days after an appeal is obtained, the notice of appeal to be given is twenty days instead of twenty-five, as required by section three, and that the day for the filing of the record as fixed by this section is the twentieth day after •the obtaining of the appeal. The terms “ appeal shall be entered,” therefore, embrace both the filing of*the trans-script of the record and the docketing of the appeal in this court.

If the first sentence of this section (8) stood alone, we think the construction we give could not be shown to be incorrect; but when we examine the second sentence, construe it with reference to the first sentence and the general purpose of the Legislature in the enactment of the whole section, there can be no doubt that the appeal in the thirty-day cases must be docketed on such day as will admit of twenty days’ notice of the appeal having been obtained, [416]*416such notice having been given ; and this because the last sentence expressly provides that if the appellant fail to file the proceedings or transcript of the record, as required in the first sentence, then, unless good cause be shown, the appeal shall be dismissed. "What appeal shall be dismissed ? Plainly and necessarily the appeals referred to in the first sentence, and they embrace first appeals taken within thirty days of the commencement of the term, and next those not thus taken ; in other words, all appeals. Again, what is the general purpose of this section (8) ? It is to secure and enforce diligence, and to punish neglect, laches or delay by dismissing the appeal. 4 Fla., 399; vigilantibus, non-dormientibus jura subveniunt. In this case the law required it to be docketed at this term, and if it was not so docketed the appeal might have been dismissed ; and if docketed it must be docketed for all purposes — as well for hearing as for dismissal or other disposition. It certainly cannot be seriously contended, in view of our statutes and practice, that there is in this court an appearance and trial term. This section prescribing the time of notice of appeal and the time of docketing the appeal, and there being no other provision controlling the time for hearing the thirty-day cases, they necessarily stand for hearing on the calendar as other cases in which the transcripts of the records are filed on the first day of the term, and in which twenty-five days-’ notice of appeal is required.

Sections 3 and 4, which we have thus construed, are'Sections in the same act covering subject matter of like character, and must, if it can be reasonably done, be construed so as to give operation to each. The result is that Section 3 controls all cases not embraced in the exception created by Section 4 of the statute — the thirty-day eases — and as to them they are controlled by section four as construed in this opinion. •

Motion granted.

Gockrell $ Walker for Appellants.

If a reasonable doubt exists in the mind of the court as to whether the equity of the bill has been answered, the im j unction will not be dissolved but will be continued to the hearing. New Edition, Sec. 1470; High on Injunctions, 518.

If the case made by the answer does not show clearly that the complainant is not entitled to relief the injunction should be retained until the final hearing. 17 Ala., 667.

Where it is apparent from the answer that there are still questions of doubt, on which additional light is requisite to satisfy the court, before deciding the rights of parties, a dissolution should not be granted. High on Injunctions, 529-30 ; New Edition, Sec. 1510.

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Bluebook (online)
19 Fla. 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-jacksonville-street-railroad-fla-1882.