People v. Judges of Oneida Common Pleas
New York Supreme Court
Motion for a mandamus in an appeal case. The bond# after reciting the judgment before the justice, and the appeal to the common pleas, contained the condition, that if the defendant “ shall prosecute the said appeal with all due diligence to a decision in the said court, and pay the said judgment and costs of such appeal, in case judgment shall be given in the said court against the said appellant, and further shall pay the debt or damages recovered before the said justice,…
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Motion for a mandamus in an appeal case. The bond# after reciting the judgment before the justice, and the appeal to the common pleas, contained the condition, that if the defendant “ shall prosecute the said appeal with all due diligence to a decision in the said court, and pay the said judgment and costs of such appeal, in case judgment shall be given in the said court against the said appellant, and further shall pay the debt or damages recovered before the said justice, together with interest thereon and costs of such appeal, if such appeal shall not be prosecuted with all due diligence,”…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Savage,'C. J.
Upon strict rules of grammatical construction, the bond is defective; but by transposing one line in the condition, so as to read the words italicised after the word appellant, the bond becomes perfect. In the construction of a written instrument, the whole is to be taken together, and effect given to the intent of the parties, if that can be discovered from the general scope and tenor of *29the instrument. Enough is contained in the .condition of this bond, literally to comply with the requirements of the statute, if the sentences had been properly distributed. The…
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