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7 Iowa 43

Cobb v. Newcomb

Supreme Court of Iowa

Decided October 19, 1858

Supreme Court of Iowa · decided 1858-10-19

Judgment by default in au action upon a promissory note, dated May 1, 1857, and payable three months after date. The petition was filed September 14, 1857. The return on the original notice reads as follows: “ Served by reading to defendant, Sept. 17th, 1857. No copy demanded,” and was duly signed by the sheriff. The defendant appeals, and assigns as error: 1. That the court had no jurisdiction of his person ; 2.

Decided 1858-10-19

Woodward, J".

¶1The omission by the officer, to indorse the time of receiving the notice, does not vitiate the service. If this time becomes important, the return may be amended, or'the day of service may be taken as the time. It is manifest from other facts of the record, that the action was not commenced before the notes became due. The notice is dated, and states that a petition is now on file, and the clerk’s certificate or record shows, that the petition was filed on the day of that date, which was after the maturity of the note. The return certifies that the notice was served “ on the defendant,” and there is but one. This is sufficiently certain. As the statute, (section 1723), requires the officer to state in his return, whether a copy of the petition was demanded, his return of “ no copy demanded,” will be presumed to refer to that, rather than to a copy concerning which the statute makes no such requirement. The presumption should be in favor of the fulfilment of his duty, rather than the omission of it.

¶2The judgment is rendered for a larger amount than is claimed, and larger than the plaintiff' was entitled to recover, by a'small sum, but this is not assigned as error.

¶3The judgment is affirmed.

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