Heggie v. Stone

• Decision Date: 19 December 1892
• Citation: 12 So. 253,70 Miss. 39
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: I. R. HEGGIE v. I. B. STONE

12 So. 253

70 Miss. 39

I. R. HEGGIE v. I. B. STONE

Supreme Court of Mississippi

December 19, 1892

October 1892

FROM the circuit court of the second district of Carroll county HON. C. H. CAMPBELL, Judge.

The town of Vaiden is situated in district five, Carroll county. By the charter of the town, the mayor was made ex officio justice of the peace for the district, and Heggie sued Stone before him on a cause of action which arose outside the corporate limits. The defendant resided outside the town, but within the justice court district. The parties appeared, and without any objection being raised as to jurisdiction, the case was tried on its merits, resulting in a judgment for defendant, from which plaintiff appealed to the circuit court. In that court the defendant moved to dismiss the case on the ground that the mayor, as ex officio justice of the peace, had no territorial jurisdiction. The above facts were shown, and the motion was sustained. From a judgment of dismissal the plaintiff appealed.

Affirmed.

Somerville & McClurg, for appellant.

1. In dismissing this case, the circuit court acted upon the authority of Bell v. McKinney, 63 Miss. 187. We note the following as to that case: (1) That a mayor's court is an "inferior court," within the meaning of the constitution. (2) That neither the charter construed, nor the act of 1886, conferred on the mayor criminal jurisdiction outside the corporate limits. This was not attempted. (3) The corporate limits embraced a part of two counties, and the court says the act of 1886 did not give the mayor jurisdiction "co-extensive with the limits of two counties."

To give the mayor, as ex officio justice, jurisdiction within the limits of the district, is not violative of the principles announced in Montross v. State, 61 Miss. 429. He could be appointed or selected in any legitimate manner.

(2) The defendant waived the question of jurisdiction by going to trial on the merits, and not pleading in abatement. That the trial in the circuit court on appeal is de novo, does not change this. Where a court has jurisdiction of the subject-matter, appearance and pleading to the merits will give jurisdiction of the person. 57 Miss. 634; 59 Ib., 189.

Sweatman, Trotter & Knox, on the same side.

Brewer & Wilson, for appellee.

1. The mayor of Vaiden is elected by the citizens of the town alone, and not by the voters of the entire district. The legislature could not, under the constitution, confer upon him the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace as to the territory outside the corporate limits. Bell v. McKinney, 63 Miss. 187. Therefore the court had no jurisdiction.

2. The appellee cannot be held to have waived any thing. He...