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13 Ind. App. 181

Shockney v. Smiley

Indiana Court of Appeals

Decided September 17, 1895

Indiana Court of Appeals · decided 1895-09-17

<p>Pleading. — Complaint on Judgment Rendered by Justice of the Peace. —Must Show Jurisdiction. — In an action based on a judgment rendered by a justice oí the peace, the complaint must allege facts showing that the justice who rendered the judgment had jurisdiction, or, in lieu thereof, that the judgment was duly rendered, or the complaint will be insufficient on demurrer.</p> <p>Justice of the Peace. — Jurisdiction.—Presumption.—Nothing will be presumed in favor of the jurisdiction of a justice of the xieace.</p>

Relies on Hopper v. Lucas

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1895-09-17

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently June 1923

3 state decisions

101895190019101920decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Reinhard, C. J.

¶1This action is based upon a judgment rendered by a justice of the peace. The court overruled a demurrer to the complaint, and this ruling *182is assigned as error. There are no averments in the complaint which show that the justice who rendered it had jurisdiction. It is not shown that a summons was issued and served on the appellants, nor that there was any appearance by them, or either of them; nor that they, or either of them, resided in the township in which the action was brought at the time of its institution. Neither is it averred that the judgment was duly rendered. A justice’s court is one of limited jurisdiction, and nothing will be presumed in its favor. In the absence of averments showing jurisdiction the complaint is insufficient, unless it be alleged that the judgment was duly rendered. The latter expression is authorized by statute as a substitute for the averment of jurisdictional facts. Hopper v. Lucas, 86 Ind. 43.

Filed September 17, 1895.

¶2Judgment reversed, with directions to sustain the demurrer to the complaint.

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