Sprague v. Astoria

204 P. 956, 106 Or. 253
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMay 16, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 204 P. 956 (Sprague v. Astoria) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sprague v. Astoria, 204 P. 956, 106 Or. 253 (Or. 1922).

Opinion

BROWN, J.

Jurisdiction is the authority to hear and determine a legal controversy.

“The fundamental question of jurisdiction, first of the appellate court, and then of the court from which the record comes, presents itself on every writ of error and appeal, and must be answered by the court, whether propounded by counsel or not: Defiance Water Co. v. Defiance, 190 U. S. 184 (48 L. Ed. 140, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 63, see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes).” Dippold v. Cathlamet Timber Co., 98 Or. 183, 189 (193 Pac. 909).

The plaintiff bases her averment that this court is without jurisdiction upon the showing made by the record on file herein. Her motion reads, in part, as follows:

“Comes now the above plaintiff and respondent, and based upon appellant’s transcript on file herein, and particularly upon the copies of the judgment, notice of appeal, undertaking on appeal and respec[255]*255tive proof of service indorsed thereon, and the two pretending orders extending time in which to file the transcript in the above-entitled court and cause, and further based upon the records, files and journal entries of the above-entitled cause, moves this Honorable Court for a dismissal of the within appeal, and for an affirmation of the judgment of the lower court, for the following reasons: * *
“That defendant and appellant’s time in which to file its transcript on appeal in the Supreme Court expired on the fourteenth day of December, 1921; that on the fifteenth day of November, 1921, appellant took a pretended order signed by Honorable James A. Eakin, extending appellant’s time in which to file said transcript until January 1, 1922, and on the 27th day of December, 1921, took a similar order signed by Honorable James A. Eakin, extending appellant’s time in which to file its transcript until the first day of February, 1922; that previously to the trial of said cause the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon entered an order appointing Honorable J. U. Campbell to try said cause on account of an affidavit of prejudice having been filed against Honorable J. A. Eakin * *

The transcript on appeal discloses that on November 15, 1921, the following stipulation was made and entered into by the attorneys for the respective parties:

■ “For the reason that the defendant has been, and is, unable to secure a transcript of the evidence taken at the trial of the cause in time to prepare and file its transcript on appeal to the Supreme Court,
“It is hereby stipulated and agreed between the parties hereto, by their respective attorneys, that the time for filing the transcript on appeal to the Supreme Court on the appeal of the defendant from the judgment rendered and entered in the above-entitled court in the above-entitled cause, be extended up to and including January 1, 1922, and an order to this effect shall be entered.”

[256]*256Pursuant to the provisions of Section 542, subdivision 2, Or. L., and based upon the stipulation made and entered into by counsel, the Circuit Court of Clatsop County, Oregon, Honorable J. A. Eakin, Judge, presiding, made the following order:

“It having been made to appear satisfactorily to the court that it is impossible for the defendant to complete its transcript on appeal in the above-entitled cause within the time required by law, and the plaintiff, through her attorneys, appearing in court and consenting thereto,
“It is ordered, that the time for the defendant to file its transcript on appeal to the Supreme Court in the above-entitled cause be, and the same is-'hereby, extended up to and including January 1, 1922.”

On December 27, 1921, a second stipulation was filed as follows:

“It is hereby stipulated and agreed that the time for the defendant to file its transcript on appeal in the Supreme Court, and to prepare, serve and file its bill of exceptions in the above-entitled action be, and the same is hereby, extended until February 1, 1922.
“This stipulation is entered into without a waiver on the part of the plaintiff of any of her rights in the premises not herein stipulated, and particularly of her contesting that the trial court is without jurisdiction to settle, or extend the time in which to settle, the bill of exceptions, or to extend the time in which to file the transcript on appeal in the Supreme Court, the time in which to do so having expired, and that the Supreme Court is without jurisdiction on appeal, no valid order extending time in which to file the transcript having been entered.”

Grounded upon this stipulation, the Circuit Court, Honorable J. A. Eakin, Judge, presiding, made the following order:

[257]*257“Based upon the stipulation Sled herein by the above-named parties, through their respective attorneys,
“It is ordered, that the time for defendant to file its transcript on appeal in the Supreme Court and to prepare, serve and file its bill of exceptions in the above-entitled action be, and the same is hereby, extended until February 1, 1922.”

On February 2, 1922, the plaintiff filed her motion requesting a dismissal of the appeal.

The filing of transcript on appeal within the time allowed by law, or an extension thereof which may be granted by the trial court or the judge thereof, or by the Supreme Court or a justice thereof, within the time allowed to file such transcript, is jurisdictional: Kelley v. Pike, 17 Or. 330 (20 Pac. 685); Emery v. Brown, 63 Or. 264 (127 Pac. 682); Chandler v. Todd, 95 Or. 430 (188 Pac. 161); Russell v. Smith, 96 Or. 629 (190 Pac. 715).

The order enlarging the time for filing the transcript in the case at bar was made within the time allowed to file such transcript. That order was made by the trial court; that is to say, by the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon in and for Clatsop County. The trial of the cause had been completed; the hearing on the motion for new trial had been decided, and the judgment rendered by the court had been appealed from.

The term “trial” is defined thus:

“A trial is the judicial examination of the issues between the parties, whether they be issues of law or of fact.” Section 113, Or. L.; Mulkey v. Day, 49 Or. 312, 314 (89 Pac. 957); Hillsboro National Bank v. Garbarino, 82 Or. 405, 409 (161 Pac. 703); Warm Springs Irr. Dist. Co. v. Pac. L. Co., 89 Or. 19, 22 (173 Pac. 265).
[258]*258And “The meaning of the word ‘hearing’ * * is to be determined from the character of its nse in the statute: American Grain Separator Co. v. Separator Co., 202 Fed. 205 (120 C. C. A. 644). In equity, ‘hearing’ is a term with a well-understood content. Technically, it is the trial of the case, including the introduction of evidence, the argument of the solicitors and the decree of the chancellor: Joseph Dry Goods Co. v. Hecht, 120 Fed. 763 (57 C. C. A. 67, citing 10 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 8); Babcock v. Wolfe, 70 Iowa, 679 (28 N. W. 490, citing 1 Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 745).

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Bluebook (online)
204 P. 956, 106 Or. 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sprague-v-astoria-or-1922.