Hall v. Decker
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On Exceptions. This was a complaint for fiowage of land by the defendants’ mill-dam, founded on c. 72, § 4, of the Revised Statutes. The complaint was served by a constable. At the first term, the complainant, upon leave granted, amended the complaint by reducing the claim for damages to one hundred dollars. At the same term the respondents moved to dismiss the complaint for want of sufficient service. The presiding Judge granted the motion, and the complainant excepted.
1Opinion of the Court
The opinioh of the Court was drawn up by
Kent, J.
The ruling of the presiding Judge, which is excepted to, was, that this process, to obtain damages for flowing land, is not “ a personal action” within the meaning of the forty-third section of chapter eighty of the R. S., and that, therefore, the service by a constable was not sufficient. The section alluded to provides, that a constable may serve any writ or precept in a personal action, where the damage claimed is not over one hundred dollars.
The process in this case, is an action. An action is the lawful demand of one’s rights in the form…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Woolf v. McGaughSupreme Court of Alabama · 1911
- Bray v. SpencerSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1951
- Lewien v. CohenSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1981
- Evans v. CarterCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1958