Zeigler v. David

23 Ala. 127
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 15, 1853
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 23 Ala. 127 (Zeigler v. David) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zeigler v. David, 23 Ala. 127 (Ala. 1853).

Opinion

CHILTON, C. J.

This was an action of debt brought by Henry P. David against the plaintiffs in error, Edward J. Zeigler and W. T. Hall, to recover upon a bond in the penalty of five thousand dollars, executed by them and William K. Pickett, on the 14th day of January, 1848, payable to said David, and containing a condition ££ to indemnify said David for all costs and damages he may wrongfully sustain by the suing out certain process issuing from the register of the Chancery Court in Wetumpka, by the order of a circuit judge, acting as chancellor pro hac vice; by which order certain negro slaves were required to be seized and disposed of by the sheriff, as therein directed.”

The fiat upon which the process issued, was made upon the exhibition of a bill by Mrs. Milly David, by said Zeigler and Thomas H„ Hall, her next friends, charging, among other [133]*133things, that she is the wife of said Henry P. David, and that, at the time of their marriage, she was possessed of and owned considerable property, consisting of lands, negro slaves, and live stock, a list of all which is given in the bill, and which, with certain moneys loaned her husband since their marriage, went into his possession and were then retained by him, except a small part which he bad sold to pay her debts to the heirs of Nicholas Zeigler, her former husband; that he had driven her from his home by repeated acts of cruelty, and threatened to run the property beyond the jurisdiction of the court. The bill prays for a divorce a mensa et thoro, or from the bonds of matrimony, and for an order of seizure of certain slaves; also for a suitable provision to be made for the complainant’s support, and for an allowance fo/enable her to prosecute her suit.

The bill was answered by the defendant, and after remaining in court until October, 1850, was dismissed by the Chancellor for want of prosecution.

1. The defendant, in the court below, filed a demurrer to the declaration, Avbieh the court overruled, and which is, among other matters, hero assigned for error. The first ground of objection to the sufficiency of the declaration, is, that there is no averment of any order of the Chancery Court permitting the plaintiff below to sue upon the bond. No authority has been cited in support of this position; and, upon principle, we see no reason why a party against whom an injunction or process of seizure has been obtained, and who has been injured in consequence thereof, may not, after the suit in chancery has been abandoned by the complainant and dismissed for want of prosecution, institute his action at law to recover upon the bond, required to be given by the fiat as a pre-requisito to obtaining such process, without any permission from the Chancery Court. True, the bond on which the action is founded constitutes a part of the record of that court; but our practice does not require profert to be made of it, and it is sufficient that the complainant produces it when demanded for the purposes of the trial.

2. The next objection is, that the declaration fails to aver that the bill was dismissed upon the merits, or that the defendants in the court below had notice of such dismissal. We think it altogether sufficient to aver that the bill was dismissed generally, without stating the ground of the dismissal. It amounts [134]*134to a final disposition of the cause, adverse to the complainant, and entitled the defendant in the chancety suit to recover upon the bond such damages as he had wrongfully sustained by its exhibition and obtaining the process prayed for.

3. As to the want of the averment of notice of the dismissal: It is only necessary to remark, that the dismissal of the bill was a matter peculiarly within the knowledge of the party whose duty it was to prosecute it, if founded on a meritorious ground of complaint; and hence, as one of the plaintiffs in error was the next friend of Mrs. David, by whom the bill was filed, and both were parties to the record, being on the bond, they must be presumed to be cognizant of the disposition which was finally made of the cause. At all events, this matter does not more properly lie within the knowledge of the plaintiff below, than of the defendants, and in such cases it is well settled that no notice need be averred. — 1 Chitty on PI. 338, and cases cited in notes.

4. As to the exclusion of the exemplification of the record of the second bill filed by Mrs. David, and the bond given upon the exhibition thereof: We regret that the bill of exceptions does not set out this rejected proof, in order that we might determine upon its legal effect, and ascertain whether or not it was relevant. It is very certain that it was competent evidence, if the record showed that, by proceedings under the fiat, the slaves seized in the first suit, after the institution of the second, were in the custody of the law, or, which is the same thing, in the possession of one of the suitors in the Chancery Court, by its order. It is competent for that-court to provide for the safe custody of effects seized by its process, and it will, in justice to its suitors, pending the litigation, so provide as to render the effects so tied up as productive as may be consistent with their safe-keeping or security.

It appears that the slaves seized under the process obtained upon the exhibition of tbo first bill, were in Mrs. David’s possession when the second bill was filed. It is said in the bill of exceptions, that the second bill contained substantially the same allegations as were set forth in the first, and that tlio fiat granted upon it directed the register that, if the next friend of the com- ' plainant should enter into bond in double the aggregate value of the slaves, whose names are set out, C( conditioned to have said [135]*135slaves forthcoming to abide the final order and decree of the court,” then that a writ issue according to the prayer of the bill. Neither the second bill nor the bond is set out; but, looking to the prayer of the first bill, we find that the complainant prays for an allowance as maintenance during the pendency of the suit, and also that the sum of five hundred dollars be paid her for the purpose of enabling her to prosecute her said suit against her husband, or such other sum as the Chancellor shall deem proper, “unless it should please the court to order and direct that complainant, by herself or her next friend, may give bond with security for the forthcoming of the said negroes, (the same mentioned in the bill of exceptions as seized under the process,) which complainant took away with her and has now in possession, to abide the decision of the court in the premises; in which event, complainant would nob pray for any allowance for maintenance, or for the prosecution of the suit, pendente lite,” &c. The fiat upon the second bill would seem to be predicated upon this prayer, and to contemplate that the complainant should be allowed to retain the possession of the slaves; otherwise, it would not have required that her next friend should bind himself to have them forthcoming to abide the final order of the court. It is said that the second bond was taken “ in pursuance of this fiat, payable as and in the amount specified in said order,” &c. But, when speaking of it, the bill of exceptions states, that it was “ conditioned to pay the said Henry P.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sillery v. Fagan
294 A.2d 624 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1972)
National Surety Co. v. Citizens' Light, Heat & Power Co.
78 So. 834 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1918)
Town of Dadeville v. Wynn
70 So. 197 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1915)
Johnson v. Coleman
69 So. 318 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1915)
Babcock v. Reeves
48 So. 21 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1907)
Bogacki v. Welch
94 Ala. 429 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1891)
Anderson v. Cullen
8 N.Y.S. 643 (New York Court of Common Pleas, 1890)
Cahall v. Citizens' Mutual Building Ass'n
74 Ala. 539 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1883)
Gayle's Adm'r v. Marshall
70 Ala. 522 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1881)
O'Connor v. Chamberlain
59 Ala. 431 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1877)
Taylor v. Perry
48 Ala. 240 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1872)
Harrison's Adm'r v. Meadors
41 Ala. 274 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1867)
Mahone v. Williams
39 Ala. 202 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1863)
Gunn v. Samuel's Adm'r
33 Ala. 201 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1858)
Durden v. McWilliams
31 Ala. 438 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1858)
Hudson v. Young
25 Ala. 376 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1854)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 Ala. 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zeigler-v-david-ala-1853.