Jones v. Thompson's Ex'r

• Decision Date: 02 November 1876
• Citation: Jones v. Thompson's Ex'r, 75 Ky. 394 (Ky. Ct. App. 1876)
• Parties: Jones, & c. v. Thompson's ex'r.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

75 Ky. 394

Jones, & c. v. Thompson's ex'r.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

November 2, 1876

APPEAL FROM MARSHALL CIRCUIT COURT.

GILBERT & REED, For Appellants,

CITED

Cooley'sCon. Lim. 145, 146.

Acts1873-4, page 15.

2 Met 543, Coffman, & c. v. Wilson, & c.

10 Bush, 271, Jacobs's adm'r v. L. & N. R. R. Co.

10 Bush, 528, Hind v. Rice.

11 Tex 673, Murphy v. Menard.

10 Bush, 232, Johnson's adm'r v. Lou.City R. Co.

J. W DYCUS, For Appellee.

OPINION

ELLIOTT JUDGE:

On the 26th of June, 1875, the appellee recovered judgment on a note for $80, with interest and costs, against the appellants before a justice of the peace for the county of Marshall, and within sixty days thereafter the appellants prayed an appeal to the circuit court of said county by filing a transcript of the justice's record, executing an appeal bond, etc.

The summons on the appeal having been executed on the appelleehe appeared in the circuit court, and, on his motion, the appeal was dismissed at the appellants' cost, from which judgment they have appealed to this court.The correctness of that judgment depends upon the constitutionality of an act of the general assembly which became a law without the governor's signature on the 13th of February, 1874.The following is the title of that act: " An act increasing the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in Crittenden, Caldwell, and other counties of this commonwealth."

The first section of the act increases the jurisdiction of justices of the peace to $100 in about fifty of the counties of this state in actions for the recovery of money or personal property, and the second section provides that upon all judgments thereafter rendered in justices' courts by virtue of the provisions of said act, " where the amount in controversy is of the value of less than $50 and as much as $10 or more, exclusive of interest and costs, appeals may be had by either party to the quarterly courts of such counties in which the judgment is rendered; and when the amount in controversy is of the value of $50 or more, exclusive of interest and costs, appeals may be had by either party to the circuit court of the county in which the judgment is rendered."

By section 37 of article 2 of the Constitution of this state it is provided that " no law enacted by the general assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title."

The subject to which this act relates, as stated in the title, is " increasing the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in Crittenden, Caldwell, and other counties of...