Fitler v. Bryson
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to the District Court for the city and county of Philadelphia, in which verdicts and judgments were rendered for the plaintiffs below in these two actions on the case, one brought by Thomas Bryson, and other by Josiah Billings, against Daniel Fitler, late sheriff of the county of Philadelphia.
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ERROR to the District Court for the city and county of Philadelphia, in which verdicts and judgments were rendered for the plaintiffs below in these two actions on the case, one brought by Thomas Bryson, and other by Josiah Billings, against Daniel Fitler, late sheriff of the county of Philadelphia. In the first action the plaintiff, Bryson, complained that on the 27th March 1840, he sued out from the District Court and delivered to the sheriff, a capias ad respondendum against Jacob Berlin, on which the sheriff arrested him, and took a bond from him and two sureties, conditioned, if the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
It is a cardinal principle in the exposition of statutes, that the judge is to consider the old law, the mischief and the remedy. He is also to bring the interpretation as near as may be to the principles of the common law ; and he is consequently to depart from the old law no further than is necessary to correct the mischief. These principles are elementary and familiar. Now the old law of bail in civil actions, if it was not in all respects the most convenient, was certainly simple in its apparatus as well as speedy in its results; and…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Fackenthall v. WightSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1931
- White v. FitlerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1848
- Blose v. Corkins, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Mifflin County1934