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29 Colo. 73

Wellington v. Beck

Supreme Court of Colorado

Decided September 15, 1901

Supreme Court of Colorado · decided 1901-09-15

On Motion to Vacate Judgment and Service oj Scire Facias. Plaintiffs in error sued out a sure facias, or summons to hear errors, directed to the sheriff of Eagle county, in accordance with the provisions of Mills Ann.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1901-09-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently September 1929

5 state decisions

20190119101920decided

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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Per Curiam.

¶1The code (Mills Ann. Code § 404) provides that a summons to hear errors shall be' directed to the sheriff of the proper county. According to its provisions, he is the official commanded to summon the defendant in error. The statute directs that all process issued out of this court shall be executed by the officer to whom the same is directed, and that the sheriff or his duly authorized deputy shall serve process directed to him. No other officer or person is authorized to perform this duty; hence, an attempt by one to execute process not authorized by law to do so, is a nullity. Unless a summons to hear errors is served as by law required, or such service is in some way waved, this court is without authority to render judgment against a defendant in error. Schwabacker v. Reilly, 2 Dillon, 127; Douthit v. Martin, 39 S. W. Rep., 944; Reptiblican Valley R. Co. v. Sayer, 13 Neb., 280; Lillard v. Brannin, 16 S. W. Rep., 349; Hickey v. Forristal, 49 Ill., 255; Witt v. Kaufman, 25 Tex., 384.

¶2■The issuance of the scire facias to hear errors did not give this court jurisdiction, unless served. The responsibility of a legal service rests with the counsel *75to whom delivered, and in no case is the clerk required to deliver a writ to the officer to whom directed; that is the duty of counsel; so that the failure to have the scire facias served as by law required, in this instance is the fault of counsel for plaintiffs in error.

¶3The judgment of this court, reversing the judgment of the district court, is vacated, the opinion upon which such judgment is based withdrawn, and the service of the writ of scire facias vacated. Leave is granted plaintiffs in error to sue out an alias scire facias, if so advised.

¶4Motion sustained. ■

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