4 D.C. 441 (C.C.D.C. 1834), 11,206, Plant v. Holtzman

• Docket Nº: 11,206[1]
• Citation: 4 D.C. 441, 19 F.Cas. 803
• Opinion Judge: CRANCH, Chief Judge (nem. con.).
• Party Name: PLANT v. HOLTZMAN et al.
• Attorney: C. Cox, for defendants,

Page 441

4 D.C. 441 (C.C.D.C. 1834)

19 F.Cas. 803

PLANT

v.

HOLTZMAN et al.

No. 11,206 ^[1]

Circuit Court, District of Columbia.

March Term. 1834

Trespass, against the justice of the peace, who issued five writs of fieri facias against the plaintiff upon five supersedeas judgments supposed to have been confessed by the plaintiff, but not confessed in the form required by the statute. The only evidence of the confession of judgment was an indorsement by Mr. Justice Clark on the warrant of arrest of one Richard Wright at the suit of the present defendants, James and Alexander Heron, in these words: ‘ Superseded June 29th, by James K. Plant.’

C. Cox, for defendants, contended that it was not necessary that the certificate of the confession should be made out in full and signed by the justice. And the uniform practice had been otherwise; and that the justice's indorsement that the debt was superseded, was conclusive.

CRANCH, Chief Judge (nem. con.).

This is an action of trespass brought by James K. Plant against John Holtzman, a justice of the peace, and James and Alexander Heron, for causing five writs of fieri facias to be levied on the goods of the plaintiff, at the suit of the defendants, James and Alexander Heron. The facts of the case appear to be as follows: The plaintiff's goods were seized by one Trunnell, a constable, upon five writs of fieri facias issued against the plaintiff by the defendant Holtzman, whose only authority for issuing the same was the following indorsement on each of five warrants of arrest issued by John Cox, a justice of the peace for the county of Washington, against one Richard Wright, at the suit of the other defendants, James and Alexander Heron, namely. ‘ 1833, June 6th. Judgment for plaintiff confessed. Debt, forty-five dollars and two cents, on interest from date; cost, fifty-eight cents. John D. Clark. Superseded June 29th, by James K. Plant. John D. Clark.’ The Said John D. Clark was a justice of the peace for the county of Washington. The original warrant of arrest, issued by Mr. Justice Cox, commanded the constable to have the said R. Wright ‘ before a justice of the peace’ for the said county on the 8th of June, 1833, to answer to James and Alexander Heron, ‘ in a plea of debt under a warrant.’

By the second section of the act of congress of the 1st of March, 1823 (3 Stat. 743), extending the jurisdiction of justices of the...