Grant ex rel. Lyon v. Wallace
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
IN ERROR., Writ of error to the Court of Common Pleas of Mifflin county. The plaintiffs sued in the court below for a debt exceeding one hundred dollars, without filing the previous affidavit that they truly believed the sum due to exceed one hundred'dollars. On the trial the verdict for the plaintiffs was reduced within that sum by the set-off of the defendant under the 26 th section of the act of assembly of the 20th of March, 1810, (5 Sm.
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IN ERROR., Writ of error to the Court of Common Pleas of Mifflin county. The plaintiffs sued in the court below for a debt exceeding one hundred dollars, without filing the previous affidavit that they truly believed the sum due to exceed one hundred'dollars. On the trial the verdict for the plaintiffs was reduced within that sum by the set-off of the defendant under the 26 th section of the act of assembly of the 20th of March, 1810, (5 Sm. L. 165,) which provides the a party suing in court and recovering a sum within a justice’s jurisdiction, without such pi’evious affidavit, shall be…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Tod, J.
The question is, are the plaintiffs entitled to costs? It is remarkable that this provision in the 26th section of the one hundred dollar law, relative to costs, has continued to be the statute law of Pennsylvania in the identical words in which it now *254appears, excepting the sum, for more than eighty years, being first; inserted in the act of assembly, passed in 1745, giving jurisdiction to justices of the peace in cases of debt to the amount of five pounds. The construction put upon it, as appears to be conceded, hitherto, invariably has been,…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Brailey v. MillerSupreme Court of the United States · 1790
- Sadler v. SlobaughSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1817
- Spear v. JamiesonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1816
3Cited by2 opinions
- Stroh v. UhrichSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1841
- Odell v. CulbertSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1845