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19 Ala. 27

Griffin v. Wilson

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided January 15, 1851

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1851-01-15

Ennon to the Circuit Court of Talladega. The return' of the sheriff on the first writ shows that Davd A. Griffin was not served. The return of the alias shows that D. A. Griffin was not served with process until the 2d of September, 1850; consequently but one term of tbe court bas intervened since sucb service, and it was error to render - judgment against him at the appearance term, by default. — Clay’s Dig. 384, § 115.

Relies on Adkins v. Allen · Keebles v. Ford

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1851-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently April 1927

5 state decisions

2018511860187018801890190019101920decided

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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CHILTON, J.

¶1By the act of 1839, (Clay’s Dig. 334, § 115,) it is enacted, that “in all suits instituted in any court having jurisdiction thereof, for,the purpose of collecting money, no judgment shall be rendered at the appearance term, except by the consent of parties, from the failure of the defendant or defendants to plead or enter appearance, as now by law required.” The writ in the case before us was executed on James Griffin and Moulton Rayfield, .but was returned to the first term of the court, “not found,” as. to David A. Griffin. Is was then permissible for the plaintiff to. have, discontinued as against -the party not found, and to have, declared against the defendants on whom the writ was executed. -. H-g did hot, however, elect to do this, but sued out an alias writ against all the defendants, which was duly executed, and the plaintiff .took judgment by default against all the defendants at the term,of the court to which the writ was made returnable. This was clearly in violation of the statute above stated, and erroneous.

¶2*29There is no force in the objection, that the plaintiffs in error unite in then* assignments of error, and that the judgment having been rendered at the proper term as to two of them, should, upon their joint assignment, be affirmed as to all; for, as they were all served with process, a discontinuance as to one of them before any defence personal to himself was pleaded, would have amounted to a discontinuance of the entire action.—Adkins v. Allen, 1 Stew. 130; Keebles v. Ford & Vining, 5 Ala. 183.

¶3Let the judgment be reversed and the cause remanded.

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