State v. Linderholm

135 P. 564, 90 Kan. 489, 1913 Kan. LEXIS 250
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 11, 1913
DocketNo. 18,323
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 135 P. 564 (State v. Linderholm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Linderholm, 135 P. 564, 90 Kan. 489, 1913 Kan. LEXIS 250 (kan 1913).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Porter, J.:

The appellant was adjudged insane by the probate court of McPherson county. He appealed to the district court, with the same result, and was ordered sent to the state hospital. On appeal the judgment was affirmed. (The State v. Linderholm, 84 Kan. 603, 114 Pac. 857.) This is an appeal from subsequent orders of the court overruling a motion to strike certain papers from the files and to discharge appellant. The first of these motions was filed September 5, 1910, and reads:

“Comes now the said Justus B. Linderholm, by his attorney, John F. Hanson, and moves the said court:
“First. To strike from the files a purported journal entry of a trial of said cause in the March.term, 1909, of said court, filed April 16, 1909, for the reason that the same was not signed by the attorney for the said Justus B. Linderholm; for the further reason that the same has not been approved by the court according to Rule No. 7 of this court; for the further reason that the supposed approval of said journal entry at chambers was without any notice to or opportunity for the said Justus B. Linderholm or his attorney to be heard.
“Second. 'To strike from the files a purported statement in lunacy in the insanity of Justus B. Linderholm, purported to be filed about March 20, 1909, be[491]*491cause the same is no part of any proceeding had in this court or any paper to be filed as of that date and has no right to such filing. John F. Hanson,
Attorney for Justus B. Linderholm.”

The motion for appellant’s discharge was filed’ December 30, 1911, and reads:

“Comes now the said Justus B. Linderholm and moves the said court as follows:
“First. That, whereas, nearly two years have elapsed since the trial of this case, that the said Justus B. Linderholm be not adjudged to be committed to any hospital or put under any restraint whatever, unless a new inquiry be had, and where there is a finding of insanity; that the said Justus B. Linderholm have his costs herein so far made, and if no new finding of insanity be found, or no new inquiry is desired, that he be discharged without day and have all his costs.
“Second. That, whereas, since the previous finding of insanity in said matter the said Justus B. Linderholm has been kidnapped and placed in the Topeka State Hospital for the insane under an irregular order of commitment from the probate court of this county, where he or his attorney was not present, and who had no jurisdiction because this court had not yet passed on that question, and after being so committed and unlawfully held, or subject to said order, he was, on the 1st day of June, 1911, by the superintendent of said hospital, discharged from all restraint as being able to care for himself, and by reason of said commitment and release the proceeding herein is terminated before final judgment of commitment by this court, and, therefore, the said Justus B. Linderholm should be discharged without day and have his costs.
John F. Hanson,
Attorney for Respondent.”

Rule No.-7 of the district court of McPherson county, to which reference is made in the first' motion, provides as follows:

“Service of process, publication notices, and drafts of journal entries will not be approved except in cases of such entries, as counsel do not agree upon.”

[492]*492All presumptions are in favor of the regularity of the proceedings, and it .will be assumed that the journal entry was approved in accordance with the foregoing rule, and doubtless it was so approved because opposing counsel for some reason hád failed to agree upon the form in which the judgment should be entered. There is, however, no statute or rule of law requiring such a paper to be approved by counsel, or even to be filed. It is the duty of the clerk to keep a journal in which all orders of the court are required to be recorded.

“All judgments and orders must be entered on the journal of the court, and specify clearly the relief granted or order made in the action.
‘The clerk shall make a complete record of every cause as soon as it is finally determined, whenever such record shall be ordered by the court. He shall make up such record in each cause in the vacation next after the term at which the same was determined; and the presiding judge of such court shall at' its next term thereafter subscribe the same.” (Civ. Code, §§ 412, 413.)

If a dispute arise between counsel as to what was decided or adjudged, the court is of course the final arbiter; but there is no law requiring that before the judgment shall be entered upon the journal the court shall sign any paper. The only thing the judge is required to sign is the journal itself, and that is largely a matter of form; and for the reason that the journal is not usually written up until after the term adjourns, the judge is not required to subscribe to the journal until the next term.

It never was contemplated that the entry of a solemn judgment of a court of record could be made to depend upon the whim or caprice of an attorney upon one side or the other of a cause or upon the failure of the attorneys on opposing sides to agree to the form of the judgment. The duty of the clerk is to make a true record of the order or judgment of the court. If for [493]*493any reason the record fail to speak the truth, the court at any time may make an order correcting the same. This has been often decided. (Martindale v. Battey, 73 Kan. 92, 84 Pac. 527; Christisen v. Bartlett, 73 Kan. 401, 84 Pac. 530; Chemical Co. v. Morrison, 76 Kan. 799, 803, 92 Pac. 1114; Calhoun v. Anderson, 78 Kan. 746, 747, 98 Pac. 274; In re Hornung, 81 Kan. 180, 184, 105 Pac. 23; Plummer v. Ash, 90 Kan. 40, 133 Pac. 157.)

The practice usually followed by which the opposing counsel agree upon the form which the clerk shall use in recording upon the journal a judgment, decision, or order of the court, has the advantage of preventing disputes over what the terms of the order or judgment are; but even when signed by the counsel and approved by the court, the paper itself is not the record; and there is no provision of law authorizing it to be filed among the papers, or indexed upon the appearance docket, or authorizing costs for' filing or indexing. It becomes a mere form for the convenience of the clerk in making up the record. T-he clerk could make a correct entry of the judgment if he cared to do so, without any form or copy or memorandum before him except the papers on file in the case and the verdict of the jury, where a verdict has been returned. Very often many useless and redundant recitals, which might well be dispensed with, are found in the entry of a judgment. It is true that the judgment in this case was one which affected the personal liberty of a citizen, and was of the utmost importance to him and to the state. Notwithstanding its importance, it required but a very simple entry of record. A dozen lines to show the nature of the proceeding, the appearance of the parties in open court,' the fact that a jury was impaneled, a verdict of insanity returned, and the judgment or order of the court, is all that was required.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 P. 564, 90 Kan. 489, 1913 Kan. LEXIS 250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-linderholm-kan-1913.