Commonwealth v. Meeser

Citations

• 19 Pa. Super. 1
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 19

Syllabus

<p>Bail — Forfeited recognizance — Practice, Q. S.</p> <p>In an action in the court of quarter sessions upon a forfeited recogni, zance, sufficient reference is made to records sued on, where the statement contains an exact copy of the recognizance and a reference to the place where the record of the forfeiture of it may be found, namely, “ the office of the clerk of said court.”</p> <p>A recognizance conditioned to appear at the next term of “ the court of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of the peace” is not void where the offense charged might be tried in either the court of oyer and terminer or the court of quarter sessions of the peace, and it is immaterial that the recognizance used the singular noun “ court” instead of the plural noun “ courts.” The suggestion that it would be impossible for the defendant to appear at two courts at the same time lacks merit, because the term of both courts begin and end at the same time, and are held in the same place, the judge presiding as a judge of the court of oyer and terminer, or as a judge of the court of quarter sessions according to the nature of the ease called for trial.</p> <p>The omission of a clerk to make a record of a forfeiture of bail on the very date it is adjudged, is not a fatal objection to a light of recovery on the bail bond. Such an omission may be corrected by amendment, even after suit is brought on the recognizance.</p> <p>On an appeal in a suit on a forfeited bail bond the appellate court may take into consideration an indorsement on the recognizance sent up as part of the record, showing the date when the recognizance was forfeited.</p> <p>In Philadelphia under the act of April 22,1816, a suit on a forfeited bail bond must be brought in the quarter sessions, and in such suit an affidavit of defense may be required.</p> <p>It is to be presumed that a recognizance was actually before the court when an adjudication of forfeiture was made, and the omission to mark the recognizance filed and to