State ex rel. Gibson v. Lay

29 S.W. 999, 128 Mo. 609, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 57
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 21, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 29 S.W. 999 (State ex rel. Gibson v. Lay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Gibson v. Lay, 29 S.W. 999, 128 Mo. 609, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 57 (Mo. 1895).

Opinion

Bubgess, J. —

This is a proceeding by mandamus at the relation of the prosecuting attorney of Yernon county against the defendant as special circuit judge of said county, having jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the party, to compel him as such judge to order capias for the apprehension of, and to forfeit the recognizance of, one Caldwell who had theretofore, to wit, at the November term, 1893, of said court, been indicted for grand larceny, and had entered into recognizance [612]*612for Ms appearance at the following April term of said court to answer to said indictment, but had made default. The recognizance was a continuing one.

At the April term, 1894, on his application, a change of venue was ¡'awarded Caldwell, who was not then in attendance upon said court, his presence being waived by the prosecuting attorney in so far as in his power to do so, and an order entered of record transferring the cause to the circuit court of Henry county. Defendant did not then enter into recognizance in open court for his appearance at the next regular term of the Henry circuit court, but the court made an order of record fixing his bond at $700 for that purpose and directing the sheriff of said county of Vernon to take and approve the same. The next term of the Henry circuit court began on the-day of September, 1894. On the fifteenth day of September, Caldwell presented a recognizance to the sheriff of Vernon county for his approval, conditioned for his, Caldwell’s, appearance in Henry county circuit court on September-, 1894. The sheriff indorsed his approval on the recognizance and deposited it in the clerk’s office, but afterward regained its possession, erased 'his name, and never returned the recognizance.

At the November term, 1894, of the circuit court of Vernon county, relator, as prosecuting attorney of said Vernon county, filed a motion to forfeit Caldwell’s original recognizance, and for an order for a capias for his apprehension, which the court, by an order of record, overruled, and failed and refused to either forfeit the recognizance or to order a capias for his arrest, because of its want of jurisdiction to do so, the cause having been transferred to the circuit court of Henry county.

It is contended by relator that mandamus is the proper remedy under the facts as disclosed by the [613]*613record, the state'having no other remedy, and the action of the court, in refusing to forfeit the recognizance, and. to order a capias for the arrest of Caldwell, being merely ministerial, while upon the other hand the contention is, that the action of the court was judicial, and that,in such case, mandamus will not lie.

All orders and mere routine business, even by a court of general jurisdiction, are not necessarily judicial, depending largely upon their nature and result.

The validity of the first recognizance is not questioned, and, it may be conceded, was in full force and. binding upon the principal therein, until the full measure of its terms had been complied with by Caldwell, by his appearance in court, his surrender by his securities, or the giving by him of a new recognizance. The sections of the statute which have any bearing upon the question now under consideration will be referred to in the course of this opinion.

Section 4160 is as follows: “Every order for the removal of a cause, if made in term, shall be entered on the minutes; if made by an officer out of court, shall be in writing and signed by such officer, and shall be filed by the clerk with the petition, if any, as a part of the record in the cause.”

Sec. 4161. “When such order shall be made, the defendant, if not in confinement or custody, shall enter into a recognizance, with sufficient sureties, for his appearance to answer the charge in the court to which the cause is to be removed, at the next term thereof, and not to depart such court without leave.”

Sec. 4162. “Such recognizance may be taken by the court or judge making the order, or by any court or officer authorized by law to let to bail after indictment, and when taken out of the court in which the cause is pending, shall be filed with the clerk thereof.”

[614]*614Sec. 4163. “No order for the removal of a cause shall be effectual in the case of any defendant not in confinement or custody, unless a recognizance, taken as herein directed, be entered into in open court, or delivered with the order and filed with the clerk of the court, nor unless such order be delivered before any juror is sworn in the cause; and in no case shall a second removal of any cause be allowed.”

The first section quoted pertains to the manner of removal of a cause. The next succeeding section provides that the defendant shall enter into a recognizance foi his appearance in the court to which the change is granted, while the next section succeeding that one, 4162, provides, that such recognizance may be taken by the court or judge making the order, or by any court or officer authorized by law to let to bail after indictment, and when taken out of the court in which the cause is pending, shall be filed with the clerk of said court. By section 4126, a sheriff is authorized to take bail after indictment, so that it would seem that the sheriff had the right to take and approve the recognizance of Caldwell for his appearance at the Henry circuit court, the amount thereof having been previously fixed by an order of court.

It is contended that the Henry circuit court did not have jurisdiction of the cause until Caldwell entered into a valid recognizance before some officer authorized to take the same, and the filing thereof in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Yernon county, and its transmission by said clerk with the order granting the change to the clerk of the circuit court of Henry county, and that, even if the sheriff of Yernon county had authority to take the recognizance, it is void upon its face because it required the cognizor to do an impossible thing, that is, to appear before the circuit court of Henry county on the first day of the September term, [615]*6151894, when that time had already transpired when the recognizance was taken and approved by the sheriff on the fifteenth day of September, 1894.

The time fixed by statute for the beginning of the September term of the circuit court of that county is the second Monday in that month, and that day had passed before the recognizance was approved, but it was not for that reason invalid, as at most the defect was nothing more than a clerical error, and, as the principal in the recognizance was bound to take notice of the time at which the regular terms of the circuit court in that county were held, he was bound to appear at the next succeeding term after the recognizance was executed, and to appear on the first day. State v. Potts, 60 Mo. 368.

A similar question was before the St. Louis court of appeals in State v. McElhaney, 20 Mo. App. 584, in which it was held that a recognizance for the appearance of a defendant in a criminal case was not void because it required the principal cognizor to appear in court on a day which had already passed; that it was merely a clerical error.

After the sheriff had taken and approved the recognizance it was plainly his duty to return it to the clerk of the circuit court of Vernon county, and, after having done so, he had no authority whatever to remove it therefrom or to withdraw from it his approval.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 S.W. 999, 128 Mo. 609, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gibson-v-lay-mo-1895.