Van Norman v. Van Norman

48 So. 2d 633, 210 Miss. 105, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 327
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 27, 1950
DocketNo. 37673
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 So. 2d 633 (Van Norman v. Van Norman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Norman v. Van Norman, 48 So. 2d 633, 210 Miss. 105, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 327 (Mich. 1950).

Opinion

McGeh.ee, C. J.

The parties to this suit are husband and wife, the former having unsuccessfully sought to obtain a divorce and having been required to pay separate maintenance and permanent alimony in the sum of $65 per month, by decree of the trial court rendered on September 19, [110]*1101944. Van Norman v. Van Norman, 205 Miss. 114, 38 So. (2d) 452.

On February 7, 1945, the husband, Gr. B. Van Norman, filed an affidavit of replevin in the county court wherein it was alleged that the wife was withholding from him the possession of five insurance policies, which were described in the affidavit and declaration as being of the value of $20 each. The county court dismissed the proceeding for want of jurisdiction of the amount in value involved, it having appeared on the hearing that the policies had a cash surrender value of more than $2,000. At that time the county court did not have jurisdiction where the amount or value involved was more than $1,000.

On appeal to the circuit court the judgment of the county court was reversed and there was a trial de novo and a judgment rendered in favor of the husband for the immediate possession of the policies.

Upon appeal to this court we reversed the judgment of the circuit court and reinstated that of the county court, dismissing the cause for want of jurisdiction of the amount or value in controversy. Van Norman v. Van Norman, 203 Miss. 310, 34 So. (2d) 733.

Thereafter it appears that the original insurance policies which were filed here as exhibits on said appeal were returned to the circuit clerk at the instance of one of the attorneys for the plaintiff in that replevin suit, in order that the plaintiff might institute a new suit in the circuit court because of the amount or value involved.

On June 11, 1948, an affidavit in replevin was filed by the husband before the circuit clerk, wherein the five insurance policies, which were therein described, were alleged to be wrongfully detained by the wife, Mrs. Marie Estelle Van Norman, and W. J. Foley, circuit clerk, whereas the proof on the trial had in that case clearly shows that neither of the policies were in the possession of the wife, and they had not been in her possession at [111]*111any time since the trial in the former snit, so far as the proof discloses.

No writ of replevin was placed in the record on the trial of the suit in which this appeal is taken, except one hearing date of April 25, 1949, during the second term of court after the filing of the affidavit, and which writ shows on its face to have been returnable at the first term of court after the filing of the affidavit, to wit, the term beginning on October 11, 1948, and which writ contains a return of April 25, 1949, the date of the issuance of the writ during the April 1949 term of the court, and which return recites that the insurance policies described therein were found in the possession of W. J. Foley, circuit clerk. The return of the deputy sheriff further recites that the writ was executed by taking the policies of insurance into his possession. However, the testimony of the deputy'on the motion for a new trial after judgment rendered in favor of the husband, the plaintiff, and which testimony went in without objection as to the incompetency of such officer to impeach his return, discloses that he did not in fact execute the writ by taking the policies into his possession on behalf of the sheriff and that he did not undertake to place any value on either of the policies, but merely delivered a copy of the writ to the clerk and a copy to the other defendant, Mrs. Marie Estelle Van Norman, and then while in attendance that day on the county court he signed the return herein-before mentioned at the instance of the sheriff.

Neither of the defendants was shown to have made bond to retain possession of the policies, and as heretofore stated it is not shown that the co-defendant of the clerk has had possession of the policies since the former appeal here, and they have remained in the possession of the clerk. .No suit was pending when they were turned over to the circuit clerk by the clerk of this Court at the instance of one of the counsel for the husband in order that he might institute a new suit.

[112]*112This Court held in the case of Citizens Bank v. Miller, 194 Miss. 557, 11 So. (2d) 457, 459, in quoting with approval from 20 Am. Jur. 1036, that: “ ‘The fact that evidence which is introduced in a case may be, if objected to, incompetent evidence under some one or more exclusionary rules of evidence does not destroy its probative effect, if it is admitted without objection. It is the generally prevailing rule that relevant evidence received without objection may properly be considered, although it would have been excluded if objection had been made. Such evidence, where admitted without objection, has the force and effect of proper evidence and is to be accorded its natural probative effect as though it were admissible under the established rules of practice.’ ”

The record before us does disclose another writ of replevin, as being introduced on the motion for a new trial, which bears date of June 11, 1949, which was after this cause was tried and a judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff on May 2, 1949, during the April term of the court, and which writ was made returnable on the 11th day of October, 1948, and there was also introduced a return signed J. H. Henderson Sheriff, by--D. S., dated June 15,1948, which was introduced on the motion for a new trial, presumably as having some reference to the writ of replevin last above mentioned, and concerning which the clerk was asked: “Q. Was the return in your office signed by the sheriff or one of his deputies? A. Yes, sir. Q. But you don’t know where it is at this time? A. No, sir.” But the record shows that the papers above referred to were here introduced in evidence by the attorney for the plaintiff, and there follows in the record a copy of the writ dated June 11, 1949, returnable on October 11, 1948, and the purported return dated June 15, 1948, almost a year before the date of the writ in connection with which the return seems to have ■ been introduced. There is a notation on the return “Filed June 17, 1948.-Circuit Clerk.” As heretofore stated [113]*113the return purports to be signed J. H. Henderson, Sheriff, by — •—D. S. There is no contention, however, that the sheriff ever executed any writ of replevin in the case, except through his deputy who wrote on the back of the affidavit in replevin dated June 11, 1948, and not on a writ of replevin at that time, the following: “I have this day executed the within writ by personally delivering to the within named Mrs. Marie Estelle Van Norman, a true copy of this writ, and a true copy to W. J. Foley, circuit clerk. This the 15th day of June, 1948, J. H. Henderson, sheriff, by V. O. Luckett, D. S. ”, and the further return of the said deputy on the writ of replevin dated April 25, 1949, during the term of court at which the case was tried, and which return bears the same date as does the writ and is signed “J. H. Henderson, sheriff by V. O. Luckett, D. S. ’ ’, and which last mentioned writ the deputy testified he did not execute except by merely giving the clerk and the co-defendant a copy thereof.

Section 2846, Code 1942, provides: “How and when writ may be executed. — The writ may be executed by seizing the property and summoning the defendant as in other actions at any time before the first day of the court to which it is returnable. ’ ’

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Bluebook (online)
48 So. 2d 633, 210 Miss. 105, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-norman-v-van-norman-miss-1950.