MacDonell v. Buffom
New York Supreme Court
Appeal from judgment upon verdict, and also from order of special term denying motion for a new trial. The action is for damages for a false return made by the defendant, a justice of the peace, in an action wherein one Nathan Francis was plaintiff, and MacDonell (the present plaintiff) was defendant.
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Appeal from judgment upon verdict, and also from order of special term denying motion for a new trial. The action is for damages for a false return made by the defendant, a justice of the peace, in an action wherein one Nathan Francis was plaintiff, and MacDonell (the present plaintiff) was defendant. Upon the trial of this cause, -the record in the action of Francis against MacDonell was put in evidence, from which it appeared that the cause of action therein alleged was that the defendant, MacDonell, in September, 1858, at or near the fair ground in Erie county, ran against the plaintiff’s…
1Opinion of the Court
'Marvin, J.
This case is somewhat complicated, and not entirely free from difficulty.
I have no doubt a justice of the peace is liable for a false return to an appeal for any damages which a party to such appeal-may sustain. In mating the return, the justice acts ministerially.
The evidence in this case seems to have been fairly submitted to the jury, and the defendant cannot complain of the rule which the learned justice imposed upon the jury.
The jury, under the charge, must have found that the offer -of evidence was substantially as claimed by the plaintiff; .and that it was rejected; and…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Stoddard v. Onondaga Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant ChurchNew York Supreme Court · 1851
3Cited by3 opinions
- Cary v. Western Union Telephone Co.New York Supreme Court · 1888
- Luckie v. GoddardNew York Supreme Court · 1939
- Brown v. ElliottNew York Court of Common Pleas · 1872