18 Wis. 397
Decided June 15, 1864
Wisconsin Supreme Court · decided 1864-06-15
Ejectment. Attached to the summons as filed was an affidavit of the plaintiff’s attorney that, on &c., he served a copy of the summons on the defendant by delivering the same to his wife at his usual place of abode; but it did not appear from said affidavit, or otherwise, that defendant could not be found. Judgment was afterwards taken against the defendant as upon default; from which he appealed.
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1864-06-15
Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently April 1900
4 state decisions
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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¶1By the Court,
¶2The judgment must be reversed. The record shows no sufficient service of the summons. Service by leaving a copy at the usual place of abode of the defendant is only authorized when he cannot be found so as to be personally served. R. S., ch. 124, sec. 9. It should appear from the affidavit or return of service that the defendant could not be found, otherwise the court acquires no jurisdiction. Pollard v. Wegener, 13 Wis., 569; Rape v. Heaton, 9 Wis., 328.
¶3Judgment reversed.