8 Cal. 76
Decided July 1, 1857
California Supreme Court · decided 1857-07-01
This was an action of ejectment. The defendant admits all the substantial allegations of the complaint, but claims title by virtue of a purchase at a constable’s sale, upon execution issued by a justice of the peace, against the plaintiff, for the sum of three hundred and eighteen dollars.
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1857-07-01
Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently February 1952
7 state decisions
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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¶1We have repeatedly decided, that justices of the peace cannot entertain suits for money demands, where the amount in controversy exceeds two hundred dollars. Consent of parties cannot give a jurisdiction which the Constitution denies. It makes no difference whether the judgment was suffered voluntarily or not. It was for all purposes absolutely void, and the execution and sale under it a nullity.
¶2Judgment reversed, and cause remanded.