Frisbie v. McFarlane

Citations

• 196 Pa. 116
• 46 A. 358
• 1900 Pa. LEXIS 484

Syllabus

<p>Practice, C. P. — Parties—Certificate—Judgment.</p> <p>Tlie power of amendment, while very extensive in aid of reaching a just result on the merits of the case, does not extend to the compulsory bringing in by the defendant of a new party as plaintiff. The defendant comes into court under compulsion but the plaintiff must come voluntarily. There is no process known to the law by which one man can compel another to sue him.</p> <p>After a verdict and certificate for defendant, parties who had not brought the suit, who had never been on the record, and as to whom the jury had not been sworn, cannot be added as plaintiffs by praecipe from defendant’s attorney, and if judgment is entered against the plaintiffs so added, it will be reversed by the Supreme Court.</p> <p>Where a defendant is sued by parties whom he claims are not all of the real plaintiffs, he may nevertheless prove his set-off against the plaintiffs of record; but if he wants a certificate in his favor against the absent parties, he should plead in abatement, and probably if the facts are only disclosed during the progress of the suit, he will be allowed to make the plea puis darrein continuance. But there is no way by which he can put them on record against their will, and enter judgment against them.</p>