Freeman v. People

Citations

• 54 Ill. 153

Syllabus

<p>1. Penal bonds—extent of recovery—and form of judgment thereon. In actions upon penal bonds the plaintiff must recover, if at all, for the amount of the penalty, as debt, and such sum as may be found to be due, as damages.</p> <p>2. In such cases, the jury should find the amount of the debt and damages separately. The penalty is the debt, and the injury sustained, is the damages. And the court should render judgment for the amount of the penalty as the debt, to be discharged upon payment of the damages.</p> <p>3. And when execution issues, it is for the debt and damages, but an endorsement should be made thereon that the debt will be discharged upon the satisfaction of the amount of the damages, and they, with the costs, are all the officer can collect.</p> <p>4. In a suit upon a bastardy bond, the penalty of which was §500, the court entered judgment “ that the plaintiff have and recover of the defendants the said sum of $500 for her debt, and the further sum of $17.50 for her damages, together with her proper costs of suit, and that execution issue for the sameHeld, this judgment, inasmuch as it authorized plaintiff to sue out an execution for, and to collect, both debt and damages, was erroneous.</p> <p>5. The obligors can in no event be held liable on a penal bond for more than the penalty. That is the extent of their undertaking. And the obligee can not recover damages beyond that sum, whatever be the amount of damages sustained.</p>