State v. Atkinson
| Decision Date | 29 September 1931 |
| Citation | 137 So. 266,102 Fla. 1028 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. RIFAS v. ATKINSON et al., Circuit Judges. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
En Banc.
Original proceeding in mandamus by the State, on the relation of Max Rifas, against H. F. Atkinson and others, as Judges of the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of the State in and for Dade County.
Alternative writ denied.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. Statutory provisions
The civil court of record which exists in Dade county is provided for by chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Extra Session Laws approved November 30, 1925.
2. Statutory provisions
The object of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, First Special Session (House Bill No. 66X), approved June 22, 1931, is to provide for and regulate writs of error from the circuit courts to those civil courts of record in this state which are organized and exist under chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Ex Sess., and to provide a special mode for the hearing consideration, and disposition in the circuit court of writs of error so provided for.
The civil court of record which exists in Dade county is provided for by chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Extra Session Laws approved November 30, 1925.
The object of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, First Special Session (House Bill No. 66X), approved June 22, 1931, is to provide for and regulate writs of error from the circuit courts to those civil courts of record in this state which are organized and exist under chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Ex. Sess., and to provide a special mode for the hearing, consideration, and disposition in the circuit court of writs of error so provided for.
Chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, First Special Session (House Bill No. 66X), approved June 22, 1931, has no application whatever to writs of error which were sued out before the new act took effect as a law on June 22, 1931.
Where the object of a proceeding is to secure a writ of mandamus requiring the respondents, the four circuit judges of Dade county, to take jurisdiction as an appellate court on a writ of error to the civil court of record in and for Dade county pursuant to the terms of a statute alleged to be mandatory in requiring all of the circuit judges of the county to sit as an appellate court to hear and determine writs of error to the civil court of record, an alternative writ will be denied, where it is not shown that each of the respondents against whom the alternative writ is sought was qualified to sit in the appellate proceedings sought to be required to be heard by the respondents pursuant to the alternative writ.
Where a petition for an alternative writ of mandamus fails to make out a prima facie case for issuance of the writ by showing that the relator has a clear, legal right to the performance of the alleged duty sought to be required of the respondents, the alternative writ will be denied.
Blackwell & Gray, of Miami, for relator.
This is a case of original jurisdiction. The respondents are the four circuit judges of the Eleventh judicial circuit for the state of Florida. The object of the proceedings is to secure from this court an alternative writ of mandamus to require the respondents, as such circuit judges, to take jurisdiction, as an appellate court, over a writ of error to the civil court of record in and for Dade county, Fla., in a certain cause disposed of in the latter court wherein the relator was the plaintiff and Gross & Baum, as copartners, were defendants, which suit resulted in a judgment for the relator which was reversed by the circuit court of Dade county acting through an order signed by Judges Freeland and Thompson, but which was never submitted to, nor concurred in by, Judges Atkinson and Barns.
The petition for the alternative writ is predicated upon the provisions of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, First Special Session (House Bill No. 66X), which was approved by the Governor on June 22, 1931. According to its terms, the act was to take effect immediately upon its becoming a law, which was on June 22, 1931, the day it was approved. The writ of error to the civil court of record from the circuit court, which forms the predicate for this proceeding, was sued out February 13, 1931, returnable on April 27, 1931. The order of reversal based on this writ of error was signed on June 27, 1931, by the two circuit judges hereinbefore referred to.
The civil court of record which exists in Dade county is provided for by chapter 11357, Acts of 1925, Extra Session Laws approved November 30, 1925. The object of chapter 15666, Acts of 1931, supra, is to provide for and regulate writs of error from the circuit courts to those civil courts of record in this state which...
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