ATTAWAY MCKINNON, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
AMOS E. LEWIS AND WILL DAVIS, DEFENDANTS IN ERROR
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
In an ejectment action, the trial court excluded a certified copy of a money judgment as evidence of title based on objections that the judge's name did not appear and the judgment was not signed by the judge. The Florida Supreme Court reversed, holding that certified copies of final judgments are admissible as prima facie evidence under statute and that judgments need not be signed by the judge at the time of pronouncement.
The certified copy of the final judgment was properly admissible. Section 1522 of the General Statutes provides that certified copies of all final judgments from Circuit Courts are admissible as prima facie evidence of the entry and validity of such judgments. It is not customary or required for a judgment pronounced in open court on a jury verdict to be signed by the judge at that moment; instead, the judge signs the minutes as a whole at the close of the term. The trial court erred in excluding the judgment evidence and in excluding the execution/sheriff's deed based on the judgment's allegedly defective proof.
“It is not usual for judgment pronounced in open court upon the verdict of a jury to be signed by the judge. It is a minute entry of the clerk, not them and there signed by the judge, who signs only at the close of the term the minutes as a whole.”
Establishes the standard practice that judges did not sign judgments immediately upon pronouncement but rather signed the minutes collectively at term's end.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePlaintiff Attaway McKinnon sought to establish title through a sheriff's deed based on a money judgment rendered in Jackson County Circuit Court. He o…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Ejectment cases and more on FLexlaw
Cockrell, J.
In an action of ejectment tried by a practicing attorney as Judge ad litem, there was verdict and judgment for the defendant, to which the plaintiff took his writ of error. The plaintiff sought to introduce a money judgment rendered in the Circuit Court for Jackson County, as the foundation for his title from a sheriff’s deed thereunder. He offered a copy of the minute entry of the judgment, duly certified by the Clerk of the Court under his hand and the seal of the Court. The objection interposed successfully to this evidence was that the name of the Circuit Judge did not appear in the certified copy and that the plaintiff failed to show that the original judgment was signed by the judge.
We have not been favored with a brief on behalf of the defendant and do not exactly comprehend what is meant by the former portion of the objection. The judgment after reciting the verdict of the jury, proceeds: “It is, therefore, considered by the court and it is the judgment of the court that the plaintiff Attaway McKin non do have and recover of and from the said defendants” &c. This is the approved form of a judgment. Lovett v. State, 29 Fla. 356, 11 South. Rep. 172.
It is not usual for judgment pronounced in open court upon the verdict of a jury to be signed by the judge. It is a minute entry of the clerk, not them and there signed by the judge, who signs only at the close of the term the minutes as a whole. Section 1522 General Statutes provides that certified copies of all final judgments rendered and entered in the Circuit Courts of this State shall be admissible as prima facie evidence in the several courts of this State of the entry and validity of such judgments. This statute would set the question at rest, even should there be authority to make it otherwise an open one. 11 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 960.
Objection was also offered to the admissibility of the execution upon the grounds that the plaintiff had failed to prove the judgment, and further that the return thereon showed it was received by the sheriff before it was issued. We do not know what weight if any was given to the latter ground. The return as to the-date upon which it was recorded by the sheriff is so evidently a mere clerical misprison that the sheriff should have been permitted to correct it, should the mistake be deemed material. 18 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 911.
What we have said disposses of the objection to the sheriff’s deed as being without foundation to support it.
Judgment reversed.
Whitfield, C. J., and Shackleford and Hocker, J. J.. concur. Iaylor, J., not participating.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Thomas v. Mrs. Nettie Goodbread, 78 Fla. 278 (Fla. 1919)…accuracy, except as to amount, and in the absence of a showing to the contrary we must presume that the slight difference in amount was due to a clerical error, and would not affect the sheriff’s deed to property sold thereunder. McKinnon v. Lewis, 64 Fla. 378, 60 South. Rep. 223. What we have said disposes of the objections to the introduction in evidence of the deeds from the sheriff to Goodbread and from Goodbread to Cole which constitute the basis of the fourth and fifth assignments of error. This br…
Authorities Cited
- Lovett v. State, 29 Fla. 356 (Fla. 1892)