Hamilton v. Town of Harwood

• Decision Date: 31 January 1885
• Citation: Hamilton v. Town of Harwood, 113 Ill. 154 (Ill. 1885)
• Parties: JOHN M. HAMILTON et al.v.TOWN OF HARWOOD et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

113 Ill. 154

JOHN M. HAMILTON et al.

v.TOWN OF HARWOOD et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed at Springfield Jan. 31, 1885.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

This was a petition for a common law writ of certiorari, to review a judgment of the Appellate Court in the case of Highway Commissioners v. Hamilton et al., brought to that court on appeal from the circuit court of Champaign county.

Mr. THOMAS J. SMITH, for the petitioners.

Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE SCHOLFIELD delivered the opinion of the Court:

This is a petition for a common law writ of certiorari. It is assumed by the petition that such a writ may be used as a complete substitute for a writ of error or an appeal, and that, by virtue of it, errors in ruling upon the law and the evidence in the progress of the trial, and in the application of the law to the facts in the rendition of judgment, may be corrected. This is a grave misapprehension. The office of the writ is only to bring before the court awarding it, the record of the proceedings of the inferior tribunal, and the judgment must either be that the writ be quashed and a procedendo awarded, or that the record of the proceedings be quashed. Chicagoand Rock Island Railroad Co. v. Fell, 22 Ill. 333; Com'rs of Sonora v. Supervisors of Carthage, 27 Id. 140. The rulings of the court upon the law and the evidence in the progress of the trial, and in the application of the law to the facts in the rendition of judgment, can not be reviewed in this manner. We can only inquire, when a return is made to the writ bringing the record before us, whether the inferior court had jurisdiction and proceeded legally,-- i. e., followed the form of proceeding...