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30 Del. 87

Burris v. Taylor

Superior Court of Delaware

Decided February 4, 1918

Superior Court of Delaware · decided 1918-02-04

Action before a justice of the peace by Robert H. Taylor against Walter S. Burris. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals, and plaintiff moves to strike off the appeal. Motion allowed. The certification of the transcript of the docket of the justice bore his typewritten signature instead of his signature in his own proper handwriting. Counsel for respondent contended that the transcript so certified was not such as is required by the statute.

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently May 1934

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1918-02-04

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Heisel, J.:

¶1Section 4036, Code 1915, provides that in appeals from justices of the peace to this court, the appellant shall “deliver a duly certified transcript of all the docket entries in the case to the prothonotary,” etc. For this purpose appellant must obtain a transcript from the justice of the peace, which transcript, as provided in Section 3987, the justice must “certify -under his hand and seal.”

¶2Section 3987, Id., also provides that this transcript, when so certified, shall be received as evidence in any court in this state. This is not a case of any individual so acting as to bind himself by estoppel or otherwise from denying his signature, but is a duty imposed by the statute upon a public official. We think the intent of the statute was that a justice of the peace, when certifying under his hand and seal a transcript of his docket entries, should subscribe his name in his own handwriting. This not having been done, the certificate is fatally defective and the appeal must be dismissed.

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