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5 Blackf. 76

Thatcher v. Coleman

Indiana Supreme Court

Decided May 20, 1839

Indiana Supreme Court · decided 1839-05-20

<p>In a suit before a justice of the peace, brought by A. and B. in their surnames only, the defendant appeared and confessed judgment. Held, that as the judgment was by confession, there could be no appeal. Held, also, that the objection to the suit, on account of the omission of the plaintiffs’ Christian names, was waived by the defendant’s appearance and confession of judgment.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1839-05-20

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently February 1906

3 state decisions

2018391840185018601870188018901900decided

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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Blackford, J.

¶1The plaintiffs sued the defendant before a justice of the peace on a note for 40 dollars and 32 cents. Judgment by confession for the amount of the note.

¶2The defendant appealed to the Circuit Court.

¶3The note was payable to “ Thatcher and Walker,” and the suit was brought in that name, without setting out the Christian names of the plaintiffs. The form of the judgment by the .justice is, that the plaintiffs recover of the defendant the sum of, &c.

¶4The Circuit Court, on the defendant’s motion, dismissed the suit on the ground, that it could not be sustained in the name of “ Thatcher and Walker,” the plaintiffs’ Christian names being omitted.

¶5This judgment must be reversed. The judgment having *77been rendered by the justice on the confession of the defendant, the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction of the cause. The statute is express, that from judgments by confession before justices of the peace, there shall be no appeal. Rev. Code, 1831, p. 297. The Court, therefore, had no authority to dismiss the suit, and .thus deprive the plaintiffs of their judgment rendered by the justice. The appeal — not the suit — should have been dismissed.

A. S. White and R. A. Lockwood, for the plaintiffs.J. Pettit, for the defendant.

¶6If, however, this objection to the jurisdiction did not exist, the judgment would still be erroneous. The objection to the suit, founded on the omission of the Christian names of the plaintiffs, was waived by the defendant’s appearance and confession of judgment.

Per Curiam.

¶7The judgment is reversed, and the proceedings subsequent to the motion to dismiss the suit set aside, with costs. Cause remanded, with instructions to the Circuit Court to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

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