Preister v. Stanly Bank & Trust Co.

It is an elementary rule of procedure, upheld by many decisions of this Court, that when the answer sets up a plea in complete bar of plaintiff’s action, a compulsory reference should not be ordered until the plea, which may defeat the action entirely and render an accounting useless, has been determined. McIntosh Prac. & Proc., sec. 523; Smith v. Goldsboro, 121 N. C., 350; R. R. v. Morrison, 82 N. C., 141.

What constitutes a plea in bar has been considered and accurately defined by this Court in Bank v. Evans, 191 N. C., 538, as follows: “In a legal sense it is a plea or peremptory exception…