Commonwealth ex rel. Beatty v. Patterson

Citations

• 13 Pa. Super. 136
• 1900 Pa. Super. LEXIS 124

Syllabus

<p>Lunacy — Evidence—Record evidence.</p> <p>In an action on a bond of a committee of a lunatic by a substituted committee to recover a balance of the lunatic’s estate in the hands of the committee, it is proper to admit in evidence the adjudication of lunacy, the appointment of the committee, the giving of the bond in suit, and the approval thereof by the court, the filing of the account by the committee, and the adjudication upon such account.</p> <p>Lunacy — Action against committee — Res adjudicata.</p> <p>In an action against the committee of a lunatic whose account has been finally adjudicated by the court, the committee will not be permitted to prove'that he never received a part of the money with which he was charged in his account which had been adjudicated by the court. The adjudication of the account, unappealed from, is res adjudicata, and cannot be collaterally attacked.</p> <p>Ljunacy — Actions against committee — Act of June li, 1836.</p> <p>Under the Act of June 14,1836, P. L. 637, sec. 6, an action upon the bond of a committee of a lunatic must be instituted in the name of the commonwealth, but it is not necessary, in order to maintain the action, to prove or to offer to prove that the commonwealth has suffered injury. If in such a case the equitable plaintiffs recover anything, judgment must be entered in favor of the commonwealth in the amount of the penalty of the bond.</p> <p>Lunacy — Bond—Scire facias — Assumpsit.</p> <p>Where a scire facias has been brought upon the bond of a committee of a lunatic, and an affidavit alleging breaches has been filed, and subsequently the form of action is changed to assumpsit, and the case goes to trial upon the merits under circumstances which showed that the defendant acquiesced in the affidavit as a sufficient statement of claim, a judgment in favor of the plaintiff will not be reversed, but he will be permitted to file a statement in proper form, nunc pro tunc, in the appellate court.</p> <p>Lunacy — Practi