Hilliard & Hilliard v. Wilson

Citations

• 65 Tex. 286
• 1886 Tex. LEXIS 655

Syllabus

<p>1. Attachment—Excessive levy—Sheriff—Sacrifice of property after levy—„ If a sheriff is commanded, under a writ of attachment, to seize property sufficient to make a debt of a specified amount, and he willfully seizes a much greater quantity of goods than is necessary for that purpose, and deprives the defendant of the possession and use of them, he commits as flagrant a wrong as if he had seized the excess without any process whatever. It is as much an abuse of the writ of attachment to fraudulently and willfully sacrifice property after levy for the benefit of the attaching creditor, as it is to wrongfully and oppressively seize more than the writ commands.</p> <p>2. Suit for malicious prosecution—Venue—Officer—The rule announced in Hubbard v. Lord, 59 Tex. 384, that suits for malicious prosecution must be commenced in the county where the process of law was unjustly and maliciously sued out, and that for a proper and legal execution of such process, according to its mandates, the officer of the law to whom it is directed incurs no liability to the injured party, reaffirmed.</p> <p>■3. Same—Attachment—Officer—Trespass—Action—Venue—Plaintiff in attachment—Where, however, the officer to whom a writ of attachment is directed, overstepping the bounds of discretion allowed him by the writ, makes use of it to wrongfully and unnecessarily oppress and injure the defendant, he commits a trespass, for which a civil action will lie against him; and if the plaintiff in attachment instigates or countenances such wrong and oppression, he becomes a participant in the trespass, and is liable to a suit, either in the county of his residence, or in that in which the attachment proceedings were commenced, or in the county in which the trespass by the officer was committed. Any expressions found in Cahn v. Bonnett, 62 Tex. 674, or in any other eases in Texas Reports, inconsistent with the foregoing rule, will not hereafter be regarded as authoritative.</p> <p>4. Same—Pleading—Venu