citation">10 N.C. 572. But in this case no question arose as to the proof of the record, it being assumed and admitted throughout that the judgment of the justice had an authentic existence. The only inquiry was as to the effect of such a judgment when proved; and every observation and argument tending to show its conclusiveness upon the right of the *Page 127 parties to it would have been irrelevant, upon the supposition that the judgment declared on had no existence in point of fact.

In this case the point in contest is altogether different; it relates solely to the existence of the judgment set up; the defendant does not object to it because it is unjust or founded on a misconception of the merits of the case, for these inquiries can clearly never be made in an original suit founded on the judgment; but because no judgment (285) was given. It is impossible to apply the rules of evidence, established in relation to the authentication of records of courts of justice to the proceedings before magistrates. They cannot be decided on by inspection, they have no seals, they keep no copies of their proceedings, and the knowledge of their official existence is necessarily confined to the county of their residence. No provision is made by law for the authentication of their judgment, except in one instance; and, in the absence of such legislative provision, the inquiry must continue to be conducted, as it heretofore has been, by proof of the justice's handwriting either by himself or others, and by proof that the judgment was given by him, then a justice, within the limits of his jurisdiction. All these considerations arise out of the issue to be decided; for if he were not a magistrate in the county where the judgment was rendered, at the time of its rendition, there is consequently no such record, and the issue is maintained on the part of the defendant.

If the inquiry as to the jurisdiction is excluded, the same rule applies to the exclusion of an inquiry into the official character of the individual who holds himself out to the public as a justice of the peace; and the consequence will be that any individual may assume that character, and sign papers which shall have the force of judgments against other persons, simply on the proof of his handwriting, and that many such papers had been signed by him. When so much importance is attached to the judgment of magistrates as to render them unexaminable in another suit, their existence and authenticity ought to be established beyond controversy; and since the extensive civil jurisdiction of magistrates in this State has placed their judgments on an anomalous footing, and beyond the strict application of the rules of evidence pertaining to the regular judgments of courts, their legal existence ought to be ascertained by every reasonable inquiry before they are ultimately enforced.

For these reasons I think the evidence offered ought to have been received, and that there should be a new trial.

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