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45 Vt. 40

Webster v. Orne

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided August 15, 1872

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1872-08-15

Trover for a horse of the value of $60. Plea, the general issue, and trial by jury, June term, 1868, Peck, J., presiding. The horse in question was attached by the defendant as constable of Westmore, on the 29th day of' October, 1867, on a writ in favor of one Ashley Bishop against one William Gilfillan.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“ought to receive a liberal construction in favor of the debtor.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Parrotte v. Sensenich

Relies on Dow v. Smith · Freeman v. Carpenter · Mundell v. Hammond

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1872-08-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 2002

1 district · 5 state decisions

3018721880189019001910192019301940195019601970198019902000decided

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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¶1*42The opinion of the court was delivered by

Wilson, J.

¶2This is an action of trover for a horse which was, on the 29th of October, 1867, attached by the defendant as the property of William Gilfillan, and the only question in the case is, whether the horse was, at that time, exempt from attachment under the provisions of the statute of 1866. The statute exemption of two horses, in lieu of oxen or steers, applies to the two horses kept and used for team work. The evidence detailed in the bill of exceptions and therein referred to, tends to show that the horse in question was kept and used for the purpose named in the statute. The case states that - the court found and decided from the evidence, that after the assignment of the bond to Gilfillan, he kept and used the horse for team work so as to render the horse exempt from attachment at the time he was attached. Where evidence has been given on trial by the court, in the county court, which has a legal tendency to prove a fact in controversy before that court, their decision upon the weight and sufficiency of the evidence is conclusive.

¶3It is said by the defendant’s counsel that Gilfillan had but little, if any, team work, and did not need a team ; that the horse was seldom used for team work, but was more frequently used for other purposes. In order to exempt such team from attachment, the two horses must be kept and used for team work; but the statute says nothing abGut the amount of team work the horses shall perform in order to be exempt from attachment, nor does the statute require that the horses kept and used for team work shall be used exclusively for that purpose. It has been repeatedly decided in this state, that the statutes exempting certain property from attachment, are remedial in their character, and ought to receive a liberal construction in favor of the debtor. Dow v. Smith, 7 Vt. 465; Freeman v. Carpenter, 10 Vt. 433; Mundell v. Hammond, 40 Vt. 641. We find no error in the findings of the county court, and'the judgment of that court is affirmed.

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