Wilcox v. Smith
New York Supreme Court
Error from the Orleans common pleas. Smith sued Wilcox in an action of trespass de bonis asportatis. Wilcox justified the taking as a constable, by virtue of an execution tested in June, 1826, issued by Justus Ingersoll as a justice of the peace of the town of Shelby in the county of Orleans, upon a judgment rendered by him against Smith. It was admitted that the execution on its face was strictly regular.
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Error from the Orleans common pleas. Smith sued Wilcox in an action of trespass de bonis asportatis. Wilcox justified the taking as a constable, by virtue of an execution tested in June, 1826, issued by Justus Ingersoll as a justice of the peace of the town of Shelby in the county of Orleans, upon a judgment rendered by him against Smith. It was admitted that the execution on its face was strictly regular. Ingersoll was reputed a justice of the peace of the town of Shelby, and acted as such for three years preceding the trial in the common pleas, which was in February, 1827. The town of…
1Opinion of the Court
*233 By the Court,
Sutherland, J.
The principle is well settled, that the acts of officers de facto are as valid and effectual when they concern the public or the rights of third persons, as though they were officers de jure. The affairs of society could not be carried on upon any other principle.
In The People v. Collins, 7 Johns. R. 549, the town clerk of Turin refused to record the survey of a road, because one of the commissioners who signed the survey had not taken the oath of office and filed it with the clerk, as was required by la%v„ The court held that the clerk, a mere ministerial officer,…
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