Swain v. Gilder

Citations

• 61 Miss. 667

Syllabus

<p>1. Judgment. By justice of the peace. Failure of record to show final judgment. A judgment by a justice of the peace, will be upheld, although the record shows a failure of the justice to perform the clerical duty of entering formal final judgment.</p> <p>2. Same. How construed.</p> <p>Judgments taken before justices of the peace are to be liberally construed, because of the unlearned character of the men who frequently fill that office, and because thé justice, in entering the judgment, is performing a purely clerical duty.</p> <p>3. Judgment. How judgment tested. .</p> <p>If it sufficiently appears that every act has been found which is necessary to give a right to the party to have a judgment entered, and that the entry made was intended as the final act of the court in applying the law to the facts, nothing remaining but the clerical duty of entering up final judgment, which was ignorantly left undone, then the judgment, however irregular, informal, or defective, will be uphel^.</p> <p>4. Same. Facts which will annul the judgment.</p> <p>If it can be shown that there was no plaintiff asking the decision of the justice and that what was done was either upon the application of the defendant or an unauthorized party acting for the plaintiff, who knew nothing of the proceeding, had no claim against the defendant, and who never ratified the action taken in his name, there being no change in the condition of the parties and no rights of third parties to be affected by the annulment, a judgment would be a mere pretense, and could not be made the foundation of judicial proceeding.</p>