State ex rel. Coahoma County v. Brown

Citations

• 58 Miss. 835

Syllabus

<p>1. Chancery. Suit on two bonds of tax-collector. Account. Jurisdiction. Multifariousness.</p> <p>A suit in chancery was brought, for the use of the county of 0., against the sureties on two bonds given by B. as sheriff and tax-collector, one executed on the 29th of December, 1873, and the other on the 28th of December, 1874. There were four sureties on the first bond, and eleven on the second, only one of whom signed both bonds. The bill alleged that at divers times between the 15th of October, 1874, and the 1st of March, 1875, B. had collected, as tax-collector, a large amount of county taxes which he had no.t paid over to the county treasurer, but had converted to his own use; that the books and memoranda kept by B. show the aggregate amount of his default, but to a great extent fail to show the dates of his collections; so that the complainant could not state how much of the taxes was received under the first bond, nor how much under the second, and, therefore, could not state how much of the default was chargeable to either set of sureties. The prayer was that an account be taken, to ascertain the full amount due the county; that the two sets of sureties be required to interplead, to determine the liability on the respective bonds; and that a decree be rendered againt the proper sureties according to such liability. A demurrer to the bill, on the grounds (1) that the remedy at law was adequate, and (2) that the bill was multifarious, was sustained. Held, that the demurrer should have been overruled.</p> <p>2. Same. Pleading. Multifariousness. Interest of defendants.</p> <p>It is not necessary, in order to avoid multifariousness in a bill in chancery, that each of the several defendants thereto shall be interested in the whole matter in controversy; it is sufficient if they are all interested in the general subject in litigation.</p> <p>3. Same. Jurisdiction. Remedy at law.</p> <p>The fact that there is a remedy at law upon any certain cause of action does not