State ex rel. Robinson v. Leach

10 Ind. 308
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 1, 1858
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 10 Ind. 308 (State ex rel. Robinson v. Leach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Robinson v. Leach, 10 Ind. 308 (Ind. 1858).

Opinion

Worden, J.

Debt on a sheriff’s bond.

The declaration sets out an ordinary sheriff’s bond, dated September 2,1851, conditioned as required by law, and assigns three breaches.

The first breach assigned is, that the said Joshua Leach (the sheriff) did not duly, honestly and faithfully discharge and perform all and singular his duties as such sheriff, during his continuance in office as such sheriff, in all things agreeably to law, in this, that on the 26th of March, 1851, Jonathan Starr recovered a decree against the relator, in the Union Circuit Court, on a bill to foreclose a mortgage for the sum of 748 dollars, 25 cents, and in default of payment within six months, that the land mortgaged be sold, and the equity of redemption barred and foreclosed; and that on the 26th day of September, 1851, a copy of said decree, with an execution thereon, was issued and placed in the hands of said sheriff, who levied the same upon the mortgaged premises, and on the 4th of January, 1852, sold the fee simple of the same, being still the property of the relator, to one James M. Conwell, for the sum of 2,900 dollars, and on the 2d of February of the same year, executed and delivered to Conwell a conveyance thereof; that said, sale was made without publicly advertising the time and place of sale for at least twenty days successively immediately previous to the day of sale, by posting up written or printed notices thereof in three of the most public places in the township in which the property was situated, and a like advertisement at the door of the court-house of the county; that said property was then, and is, worth the sum [310]*310of 3,600 dollars. Wherefore the relator claims 700 dollars as damages, and 200 dollars as á forfeiture or penalty.

For a second breach, it is alleged that said execution came to the hands of said sheriff, and was by him levied on said lands, they still being the' property of the relator, and that on the 21st of October, 1851, he had the same appraised by competent appraisers at the sum of 2,900 dollars, and the rents and profits of the same for seven years at the sum of 79 dollars per year, and that on the 12th of December, 1851, the relator paid said sheriff on said execution 429 dollars, and that the whole amount due on said execution on said day of sale, including principal, interest and costs, and the costs of the sale, amounted to only the sum of 391 dollars, 3 cents, being 161 dollars, 97 cents less than the appraised value of the rents and profits of said land for seven years; that on the day of sale, the sheriff offered the rents and profits for seven years, and receiving no bid therefor, instead of returning the same unsold for want of bidders, wrongfully and unlawfully offered and sold the fee simple of the said real estate, and executed a conveyance therefor to said Conwell, as above stated, for said sum of 2,900 dollars, the same then being worth 3,600 dollars — by means whereof the relator is entitled to have and recover from defendant the sum of 200 dollars as forfeiture or penalty, and the further sum of 700 dollars for his damages sustained by reason of the premises.

For a third breach, it is alleged that said execution came to’ the hands of said sheriff, and was by him levied on said lands, as aforesaid, and that on the 21st of October, 1851, the. same was duly appraised at the sum of 2,900 dollars, and that on the 12th of December, 1851, the relator paid said sheriff on said execution the sum of 429 dollars, and that the whole amount due on said execution on the day of sale, including principal, interest and all costs, and the costs of said sale, amounted to only the sum of 391 dollars, 3 cents, and that the sheriff wrongfully and unlawfully offered and sold the fee simple of the whole of said land, and executed a conveyance therefor to said Conwell, [311]*311as above stated, for the sum aforesaid, that said land was then and now is worth 3,600 dollars, and that the same is susceptible of division, and that a portion of the same, to-wit, twenty-five acres, was amply sufficient to satisfy said execution, and is, and was then worth the whole amount due on said execution, and might have been divided from the remainder, and sold separately, to satisfy the same. Wherefore the relator claims 200 dollars as a forfeiture or penalty, and the further sum of 700 dollars for his damages sustained.

To this declaration, the defendants demurred, assigning the following causes:

1. “ There is no averment that the property sold was, at the time of the sale, the property of the plaintiff.
2. “ Because the statute gives no penalty for a violation of duty in maldng sale under-the execution law of 1843, the same being amendatory of the law of 1842, and under which said sale was made.
3. Because, as to so much of said several breaches as unites the penalty and damages, said defendants say they cannot be united.
4. “ For further cause to the third breach, because there is no averment that the said relator requested a division, or selected a part to be levied on and sold in satisfaction of said execution.
5. “ Because the sale was void, as shown in the second breach.”

The Court sustained the demurrer to the second and third breaches assigned, and also as to so much of the first as claimed the penalty.

To this decision of the Court, the plaintiff duly excepted, and thereupon the defendants filed their answer to that part of the first breach to which the demurrer was not sustained, and the plaintiff was ruled to reply on or before the second day of the next term, and the cause was continued. On the second day of the next term thereafter, the plaintiff was called, and refusing to reply, the cause was dismissed for want of prosecution, at the costs of the plaintiff.

[312]*312The errors assigned are, the sustaining of said demurrer, and the dismissing of the cause, and rendering'judgment for costs against the plaintiff.

The questions arising on this demurrer require a reference to the statute pointing out the causes for which a party may demur. By 2 R. S. p. 38, § 50, it is provided that “ the defendant may demur to the complaint when it appears upon the face thereof, either—

“ First — That the Court has no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant, or the subject-matter of the action; or,
Second — That the plaintiff has not legal capacity to sue; or,
“ Third — That there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause; or,
“ Fourth — That there is a defect of parties, either plaintiff or defendant; or,
“ Fifth — That the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; or,
Sixth — That several causes of action have been improperly united.
- And for no other cause shall a demurrer be sustained,” &c.

If we were to hold that a party can demur for causes to be assigned in the precise language of the statute only, then this judgment is erroneous in sustaining the demurrer, and must be reversed, as neither of the causes is assigned in the language of the statute.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Ind. 308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-robinson-v-leach-ind-1858.