Transitory action

An action for personal injuries being in its nature transitory and susceptible of being brought in any jurisdiction in which the defendant may be impleaded, there is no foundation for the contention that the court had no jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the suit.

In practice. An action the cause of which might have arisen in one place or county as well as another. In general, all personal actions, whether ex contractu (5 Taunt. 25; 6 East, 352; 2 Johns. Cas. [N. Y.] 335; 3 Caines [N. Y.] 374; 3 Serg. & R. [Pa.] 500; 1 Chit. Pl. 243), or ex delicto (1 Chit. Pl. 243), are transitory. Such action might, at common law, be brought in any county, but in the United States statutes have been passed prescribing in what counties the suit may be brought.

Actions are said to be either local or transitory. An action is "local," when the principal facts on which it is founded pertain to a particular place. An action is termed "transitory," when the principal fact on which it is founded is of a transitory kind, and might be supposed to have happened anywhere ; and therefore all actions rounded on debts, contracts and such like matters relating to the person or personui property, come under this latter denomination. Steph. PL 316, 317. And see Mason v. Warner, 31 Mo. 510; Livingston v. Jefferson. 15 Fed. Cas. 664; Acker-son v. Erie In Co., 31 N. J. Law, 312; McLeod v. Connecticut & P. R. Co., 58 Vt. 727, 6 Atl. 648.

Defined under Transitory in Black's Law Dictionary.

Actions are said to be either local or transitory; an action is local, when the principal facts on which it is founded pertain to a particular place. See Local Action. An action is termed transitory, when the principal fact on which it is founded is of a transitory kind, and might be supposed to have happened anywhere; and, therefore, all actions founded on debts, contracts, and such like matters relating to the person or personal property, come under this latter denomination. Another aspect of the question is indicated in some of the cases, that an action should be deemed local, when the judgment can be executed, or the relief sought can be given, only in some particular place; thus, an action for personal damages, which may be collected anywhere, would be, in this view, transitory; while an action to obtain possession of lands, which can be given only where they lie, would be local. One view looks backward to the origin of the right of action, to determine its class; and this is the test most frequently presented. The other rule looks forward to the relief sought. Still a third distinction is made, as between actions founded on privity of estate, and those founded on privity of contract: the former are deemed local in their nature, the latter, transitory. The importance of the distinction lies chiefly in application of the rules as to laying venue. If the action is local, the venue is local; if the action is transitory, so is the venue. Actions of trespass on lands are classed with those actions which demand the possession of land, and with actions of waste, which are local. Actions founded on contracts respecting lands are transitory, and may be sustained wherever the defendants are found. Livingston v. Jefferson, 1 Broclc. 203. An action of account for rents and profits of land is transitory. Lewis v. Martin, 1 Day, 263. An action against a railroad company for killing stock, commenced by summons, is transitory. Illinois, &c. R. K. Co. v. Swearingen, 33 lU. 289. A bill for rescinding a contract for land is transitory. Lewis v. Martin, 5 T. B. Mon. 3. quantity, by mistake, is transitory. "Williams V. Barnett, 6 T. B. Mon. 322. An action on a judgment of another state, where the plaintiff is not an inliabitant of the state in which suit on the judgment is brought, may be brought in any county. Mitchell v. Osgood, 4 Me. 124. An action against a town, to recover damages caused by defects in a highway, is a transitory action. Titus v. Frankfort, 15 Me. 89. Actions for assault and battery are transitory. Watts V. Thomas, 2 Bihb, 458; Redgrave v. Jones, 1 Har. If M. 195. All actions for wrongful injuries to the person or to personal property, are, in general, transitory. Northern, &c. Co. v. SchoU, 16 Md. 331. In Massachusetts, actions against a sheriff, constable, &c., for any matter concerning their offices, are transitory; the Eng Ush statute, 21 Jac. I. ch. 12, not being in force there. Poster v. Baldwin, 2 Mass. 569; Marshall v. Hosmer, 3 Id. 23; French v. Judkins, 7 Id. 229; Pearce v. Atwood, 13 Id. 324. An action of debt or covenant between the lessor and lessee, for the recovery of rent, being founded on privity of contract, is transitory. Lienow v. Ellis, 6 Mass. 331; Birney v. Haim, 2 Litt. 263; Henwood v. Cheeseman, 3 Serg. ^ R. 500. So is covenant by assignee of the reversion, under the Stat. 32 Hen. VIII. ch. 34. But debt at common law by such assignee, being founded solely on privity of estate, is local. Henwood v. Cheeseman, 3 Serg. Sj- R. 500. The operation and effect of a deed of real estate are local, and determinable only where the estate is situate; but covenants collateral to the title, for the purchaser's assurance, and the implied engagement, if any, concerning the consideration paid, are transitory. Phelps v. Decker, 10 Mass. 267. Trover for conversion of timber cut and carried away is transitory, though trespass for cutting it would be local. Greeley v. Stilson, 27 Mich. 163. An action for an escape is transitory. Jones V. Pemberton, 7 N. J. L. 350. Actions on contracts, and for personal injuries, and for injuries to personal property, are generally transitory. Glen v. Hodges, 9 Johns. 67; Gardner v. Thomas, 14 Id. 134; Shaver v. White, 6 Munf. 110. An action for an injury to the person, done beyond the limits of New York, but prosecuted there, is transitory. Smith v. BuU, 17 Wend. 82a Actions for damages for negligence are personal and transitory. Barney v. Burnstenbinder, 64 Barb. 212. An action against a sheriff is deemed local only when founded upon an affirmative act. An action for his mere omission to perform a duty is transitory. Wilson ». ' In Ohio, all personal actions are transitory. Genin !>. Grier, 10 Ohio, 209. That replevin is a transitory action, see Powell ". Smith, 2 Watts, 126. The right of property in a chattel that has become such by severance from the freehohl cannot be tried in a transitory action. Powell v. Smith, 2 Watts, 127; Brown u. Caldwell, 10 Serg. Sr R. 114; Mather v. Ministers of Trinity Church, 3 Id. 509; Baker v. Howell, 6 Id. 476. An action to recover damages of a town, or other corporation, for an injury happening through the insufficiency of a road, which it is made their duty, by statute, to repair, is not local. Hunt v. Pownal, 9 Vt. 411. If, by the law of a place where a wagering contract is made and executed, money lost upon it can be recovei-ed by the loser, his action is transitory. Flanagan r. Packard, 41 Vi 561.

practice, pleadings. Actions are transitory when the venue may lawfully be laid in any county, though the cause of action arose out of the jurisdiction of the court. Vide Acttonas, and I Chit. Pl. 273; Com. Dig. Actions, N 12; Cowp. 161; 9 Johns. R. 67; 14 Johns. R. 134; 3 BI. Com. 294.