Cox v. Gress
Supreme Court of Arkansas
APPEAL from Pulaski Circuit Court. W. G. Whipple, Special Judge. This was an action for money had and received, brought by Russell B. Gress against George W. McDiarmid. The regular judge being disqualified a special judge was chosen to preside at the trial of the cause.
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APPEAL from Pulaski Circuit Court. W. G. Whipple, Special Judge. This was an action for money had and received, brought by Russell B. Gress against George W. McDiarmid. The regular judge being disqualified a special judge was chosen to preside at the trial of the cause. By consent of the plaintiff’s attorney and of C. W. Cox, who appeared as attorney for the defendant and also as the attorney for N. W. Cox, claiming to be the guardian of the defendant, a person of unsound mind, the trial proceeded on the 14th day of April, 1887, before the special judge at his office in a building not…
1Opinion of the CourtCockrill, C. J.
At common law a lunatic could be sued without the intervention of a guardian or committee. If of full age he could appear by attorney as any other defendant. But he was incompetent to employ an attorney, and so the court performed that duty for him. Buswell on Insanity, secs. 128, 132; Freeman on Judgments, sec. 152; Van Horn v. Mann, 39 N. J. Law, 213, and cases cited.
In equity, the practice was different. That court would not proceed without the intervention of a guardian to protect the interests of the insane defendant. If he had been judicially ascertained to be insane, his committee or…
2Cited by15 opinions
- Perkins v. PerkinsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1917
- Lowe v. HartSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1910
- People v. RosenwaldIllinois Supreme Court · 1915
- St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad v. BrattonSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1910
- Cranston v. StanfieldOregon Supreme Court · 1927
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