Zufall v. United States

43 S.W. 760, 1 Indian Terr. 638, 1898 Indian Terr. LEXIS 85
CourtCourt Of Appeals Of Indian Territory
DecidedJanuary 14, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 43 S.W. 760 (Zufall v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court Of Appeals Of Indian Territory primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zufall v. United States, 43 S.W. 760, 1 Indian Terr. 638, 1898 Indian Terr. LEXIS 85 (Conn. 1898).

Opinion

Clayton, J.

One Charles Keifer, having been duly •rested upon a charge for introducing spirituous liquor to the Indian Territory, upon examination was held to iil in the sum of $200 to appear at the December, 1895, rm of the United States court for the Northern district of [640]*640the Indian Territory. His bail bond for that amount, with the appellants George Zufall and W. T. Escoe as his sureties, was duly executed, and he released. On the 3d day of December, 1895, (the appearance term ), Keifer, the defendant in the criminal suit, and the principal in this bond, being called, made default. Following is the record entry: “3,218. United States vs Chas. Keifer. Intro. Now comes the United States, by its attorney, and the defendant, though duly called, comes not, but wholly makes default. Whereupon -and-are thrice duly called in open court to bring the body of said Chas. Keifer into court, and save their recognizance, but they answer not. It is therefore considered and ordered that the United States of America do have and recover of and from the said defendant, Chas. Keifer, and-and-, his sureties, the sum of- and that they be cited to be and appear at the next regular term of this court, to show why judgment should not be made final, and that a bench warrant issue for the defendant herein.” Thereupon a summons was regularly issued, anc duly served on the sureties in the bond, the appellants citing them to appear on the first day of the next term o: the court, to show cause why judgment should not be ren dered against them. This summons is not made a part o: the record of this case, and is therefore not before us ; but as there has been no objections offered to its form, we as sume that it was regularly issued and served, and is in tin common form of such writs. During the same term of th< court, to wit, on the 30th day of January, 1896, the appel lants appeared and filed a motion to quash the summons, or as the motion calls it, ‘ ‘ the scire facias. ” It is as follows (caption omitted): “ And now comes the defendants Georg* Zufall and W. T. Escoe, and move the court to quash th< scire facias issued in this cause, and for grounds of saic motion state that the facts stated in the scire facias filed ü this cause do not entitle the plaintiff to recover in this cause [641]*641for the reason that the bond given by these defendants upon which this scire facias is issued was a bond given for the appearance of defendant Chas. Keifer, to answer to the sharge of introducing and selling intoxicating liquors, and that this court .had no jurisdiction over said offense, and said oond is therefore void ; that said bond was not taken and approved as the law directs, and is therefore void ; that the record upon which said scire facias is based is wholly void md insufficient to support a sci. fa. Wherefore the defendants pray the judgment of the court. Denison & Maxey, ittorneys for defendants Zufall and Escoe. On the same Lay the cause was heard by the court, on the motion to [uash the summons. The motion was overruled, to which exceptions were duly saved ; and the appellants standing on heir motion to quash, refusing to further plead, judgment ras entered against them, and an appeal duly taken.

That the United States Court for the Northern district f the Indian Territory had no jurisdiction over the offense f introducing and selling intoxicating liquor in the Indian ferritory, and consequently no power to cause the arrest of, nd admit to bail, parties charged with that offense, is aban-oned by appellants, as is also the position taken by their lotion to quash — that the bond was void because not taken nd approved as the law directs. The only question pre-ented, therefore, to be decided, is, is the record upon which re summons was based void and insufficient to support the idgment?

The statute in force in this jurisdiction (Mansf. Dig.) rovides:

“Sec. 2064. If the defendant shall fail to appear for ■ial or judgment, or at any other time when his presence l court may be lawfully required, or to surrender himself i execution of the judgment, the court may direct the fact [642]*642to be entered on the minutes, and thereupon the bail-bond o money deposited in lieu of bail, is forfeited.
‘ ‘Sec. 2068. No pleadings are required on the par of the state, but the clerk shall issue a summons against th bail, requiring them to appear on the first day of the nex term of the court to show cause why judgment should no be rendered against them for the sum specified in the bai] bond on account of the forfeiture thereof, which summon shall be executed as in civil actions, and the action procee as an ordinary civil action. ”

By the above section (2068) no pleadings are require by the government. What, then, is to be taken as i1 declaration or complaint? If it ,be true that the entry c the forfeiture made by the clerk upon the record is the con plaint of the state, then the entry made in this case is cleai ly and wholly insufficient. The amount sued for does nc appear, the names of the defendants are not mentionec and nothing is shown connecting them with the particuk bond in suit. Nothing is mentioned in the order except th fact that the defendant in the suit in which the bond we executed had failed to appear when called, and that his ba was forfeited. And yet this is all that is required by tl law. Section 2064, above set out, calls for nothing mor-The language is: “If the defendant fail to appear * * the court may direct the fact to be entered on the minutes and thereupon the bail is forfeited. Under the old practici a scire facias upon forfeiture of a bail bond answered tl the purpose of both declaration and writ, and, if the fac alleged did not constitute a cause of action, would not su tain a judgment by default. Miller vs State, 35 Ark, 27 It is quite clear that the summons mentioned in section 20( is not intended to be the writ of scire facias, because sch facias, besides being a writ, was also a pleading. It wA the declaration, and, by the terms of the statute, in cases A [643]*643Ms kind, 1 ‘no pleadings are required on the part of the state. ”

What, then, is to be taken as the government’s complaint in this class of cases? In Kentucky, under a like statute, it has been decided that, as the bail bond or recog - lizance itself is the basis of the action, it must, in connec-ion with the order of forfeiture, present a perfect cause of ,ction. Roberts vs Com., 7 Bush, 430; Com. vs Fisher, 2 Duv. 376. And the supreme court of Arkansas, passing up-m this very statute, has adopted the same interpretation. Ihomm vs State, 35 Ark. 327. And, inasmuch as this de-ision of the supreme court of Arkansas was rendered prior o the extension of the statute over the Indian Territory uner the rule laid down by the circuit court of appeals for the lighth circuit in the case of Sanger vs Flow, 4 U. S. App. 2, 1 C. C. A, 56, and 48 Fed. 152, it is binding upon lis court, as being the interpreted law as it came > us. The test, then, in this case, is: Does the bail ond, taken, in connection with the order of forfeiture ntered upon the record, present a perfect cause of stion; or, in other words, do the two, taken togeth- :, make a good complaint at law, of course omitting re caption, the prayer, the signature of counsel, and the ffidavit required by the statue? The bond is not before us, it, inasmuch as no objections were offered to it in the court alow, we assume that is was a valid bail bond in the usual >rm.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
43 S.W. 760, 1 Indian Terr. 638, 1898 Indian Terr. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zufall-v-united-states-ctappindterr-1898.