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266 Ala. 675

98 So.2d 435

Wilkinson v. Rowe

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided August 22, 1957

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1957-08-22

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“"If we were to express an opinion based on facts not shown by the record in this case, that opinion would be dicta and would not be binding in subsequent cases. This court has quoted with approval the following statement of this rule: "`* * * It is a maxim, not to be disregarded, that general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used. If they go beyond the case, they may be respected, but ought not to control the judgment in a subsequent suit, when the very point is presented for decision. * * *' State ex rel. Wilkinson v. Murphy, 237 Ala. 332, 341 , 186 So. 487, 496 , 121 A.L.R. 283 . "When another case involving different facts comes before us, it will be our duty to decide that case according to the law applicable to the facts then presented." Wilkinson v. Rowe, 266 Ala. 675, 680, 681 , 98 So.2d 435, 440 .”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including Mitchell v. Vann, State v. McKenney

Relies on State Ex Rel. Wilkinson v. Murphy

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1957-08-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently September 2013 · most notably Mazel v. Bain (1961), Bailey Mortg. Co. v. Gobble-Fite Lumber Co. (1990)

3 federal appellate · 28 state decisions

1101957196019701980199020002010decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1On Rehearing

COLEMAN, Justice.

¶2Appellee requests clarification “for the purpose of clearing up some ambiguity which may arise” from the opinion and for guidance in other cases where surveyors and “engineers” claim a lien.

¶3We have not found the word “engineer” in the transcript in this case. The word “engineer” appears in the opinion in a direct quotation from a cited case. In any event, the right to a lien depends, not on the title or classification of the person who furnishes the labor, but on the nature of the services rendered.

¶4The decision in this case, as in all cases, is based on the record of the proceedings in the court below as set out in the transcript filed in this court. We cannot anticipate what circumstances may appear hereafter in other cases.

¶5 If we were to express an opinion based on facts not shown by the record in this case, that opinion would be dicta and would not be binding in subsequent cases. This court has quoted with approval the following statement of this rule:

*681 It is a maxim, not to be disregarded, that general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used. If they go beyond the case, they may be respected, but ought not to control the judgment in a subsequent suit, when the very point is presented for decision.’ State ex rel. Wilkinson v. Murphy, 237 Ala. 332, 341, 186 So. 487, 496, 121 A.L.R. 283.

¶6When another case involving different facts comes before us, it will be our duty to decide that case according to the law applicable^ the facts then presented.

¶7We answered in the negative the question in this case as that question was stated in brief by the appellee. The question so stated is set out in the original opinion.

¶8The allegations of the bill of complaint are that the services rendered by appellee included:

‘Boundary survey and topographic map of Tuskeegee Terrace .............. ‘For running in center line of Road ... .$1,291.25
No. 1 as per plot plan of Tuskeegee Terrace ................................$ 166.30’

¶9From these allegations, we understand that the boundaries of the lots of the subdivision were actually staked out and marked on the ground, and that the center line of Road No. 1 was actually staked out and marked on the ground, all according to the plan or map prepared by appellee.

¶10Our holding is that preparing such maps and placing stakes on the ground to mark the boundary lines of lots and streets according to such maps is not labor on an improvement within the meaning of the mechanics’ lien statute.

¶11Opinion modified and extended. Application overruled.

LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON, SIMPSON, GOODWYN and MERRILL, JJ-, concur.
GOODWYN, Justice

¶12(concurring).

¶13In view of the modification of the original opinion I now concur in the original opinion as modified, and also in the foregoing opinion overruling the application for rehearing.

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