Dock v. Cauldwell

Citations

• 19 Pa. Super. 51
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 31

Syllabus

<p>Execution — Debtor's exemption — Nonresidents.</p> <p>It is the purpose of the Act of April 9, 1849, P. L. 533, relating to debtors’ exemption, to limit its benefits to persons who are in fact bona fide citizens of the state, and not to accord them to fictitious ones.</p> <p>A citizen is an inhabitant and representative of a place, a constituent member of the local community, and clothed with the rights and immunities which the laws of the state give to that character.</p> <p>A person is not entitled to the benefit of the exemption Act of April 9, 1849, P. L. 533, where it appears that he formerly resided in this state, that he deserted his wife, and abandoned his business and office in this state, took up his abode in another state, had frequent business visits by appointment just beyond the border of the .state, and that he pretended to have a room in an apartment house in Philadelphia, which he did not inhabit or visit.</p> <p>Where a person claiming the exemption submits his case to the court below on his answer and the evidence taken under the rule without asking for an issue to decide the disputed facts, he cannot after thus selecting his own tribunal question, on appeal, the jurisdiction of the court.</p>