Quayle v. Glenn

• Decision Date: 11 May 1899
• Citation: 6 Idaho 549,57 P. 308
• Parties: QUAYLE v. GLENN
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

57 P. 308

6 Idaho 549

QUAYLE v. GLENN

Supreme Court of Idaho

May 11, 1899

JURISDICTION OF JUSTICES' COURTS.-Under the provisions of section 3851 of the Revised Statutes, justices' courts, in actions arising on contract for the recovery of money, only have jurisdiction where the sum claimed does not exceed the sum of $300. The sum claimed, including damages or principal and interest thereon, cannot exceed the sum of $300. Section 22 article 5, of the constitution of Idaho fixes the maximum beyond which the legislature cannot go in fixing such jurisdiction as to value of property claimed or amount in controversy.

(Syllabus by the court.)

APPEAL from District Court, Bear Lake County.

Reversed and remanded, with instructions.

John A Bagley, for Appellant.

The statement is the authority for the justice to enter judgment and his sole authority. Any defects in it are jurisdictional and fatal. Nothing can be presumed in favor of the jurisdiction of courts or magistrates having special or limited jurisdiction. The record should show that the judgment was within the limits of their jurisdiction. (Henry v. Estes, 127 Mass. 474; Hendrick v. Whittemore, 105 Mass. 23, 27; Tucker v. Harris, 13 Ga. 1, 58 Am. Dec. 488; Palmer v. Oakley, 2 Doug. (Mich.) 433, 47 Am. Dec. 41.)

Allen Miller and T. L. Glenn, for Respondents.

The justice had jurisdiction both of the subject matter of the action and of the person of the defendant, Quayle, and having jurisdiction, his judgment is not void. (Chase v. Christenson, 41 Cal. 253; Moore v. Martin, 38 Cal. 428; Sweet v. Ward, 43 Kan. 695, 23 P. 941.)

SULLIVAN, J. Huston, C. J., and Quarles, J., concur.

OPINION

SULLIVAN, J.

This suit was brought to perpetually enjoin the enforcement of a judgment entered in a justice's court against appellant for the sum of $ 401.80 damages. The complaint in said court prayed for judgment for the sum of $ 291.35 principal, and interest claimed to be due thereon, amounting to $ 110.45, making a total demand of $ 401.80, all of which appears from the judgment-roll. The question as to the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace to enter judgment was not raised in the court below, but it is a question that may be raised at any time. In deciding this question, we have examined the laws of Congress pertaining to the creation of Idaho territory, and acts amendatory thereof, and we find that section 1927 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as found on page 38 of the Revised Statutes of Idaho of 1887, provides that justices of the peace "shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy where the debt or sum claimed exceeds three hundred dollars." The legislature of the then territory of Idaho in defining the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, uses substantially the same language used in said act of Congress. It is provided, among other things, in section 3851 of the Revised Statutes that the jurisdiction of a justice's court shall extend to actions arising on contract for the recovery of money only where the sum claimed does not exceed the sum of $ 300. The $ 300 includes the interest, if any be due, as well as the principal debt sued for. The acts of Congress relating to Idaho territory, commonly known as the "Organic Act," was the supreme law of Idaho at the time of the adoption of the Revised Statutes of Idaho (1887), and the legislature, in adopting said section 3851, merely re-enacted the provisions of said organic act so far as the point under consideration is concerned. Had Congress or the legislature intended to exclude the interest due on claims sued for, apt words to that effect would have been used, as was done in fixing the jurisdiction of probate courts. Section 1907 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (see page 36 of the Revised Statutes of Idaho 1887), authorized probate courts of Idaho territory as follows: "To hear and determine all civil causes wherein the damage or debt claimed does not exceed the sum of $ 500, exclusive of interest." And the...