Ritter v. Offutt

Grason, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On the 21st day of February, 1873, the appellant insti-tuted this suit against the appellee in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, the summons being made returnable to the March Term, when it was returned by the sheriff endorsed “summoned.” On the 3rd of March, 1873, the appellee appeared by J. T. B. Dorsey, Esq., rule nar. was laid and the case continued. On the 31st July, of the same year, the nar. was filed, and on the 5th day of September, the appellee filed a motion to quash the writ. On the 27th of September, the appellant moved to amend the ²¹⁰ summons by inserting the word “trespass” after the word action, so as to make the summons show that the suit Avas an action of trespass.

The Circuit Court over-ruled the motion to amend, granted the motion of the appellee, and quashed the summons, and thereupon this appeal was taken. The summons commanded the Sheriff to summon the appellee “to appear before the Judges of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, to be held at the Court House at Towsontown, in and for the same County, on the first Monday in March, 1873, to answer an action at the suit of George W. Ritter,” &c. It was contended on behalf of the appellee that, since the adoption of the Code, Article 75, sec. 84, Avrits issued in this general form are void, inasmuch as that section requires that all writs of summons to answer in civil actions shall state the purpose for which the party is sued, precisely as was previously required in writs of capias ad respondendum. We do not concur in this construction of the statute.

After -imprisonment for debt was abolished by the Constitution, the Legislature enacted that suits should be commenced by summons instead of by capias ad respondendum, and that the summons should state the purpose for which the party Avas summoned. The reason of this requirement is obvious. If the summons did not state the purpose for which the party was summoned, it would be impossible for him to know for what purpiose his attendance at Court was required. When the summons states that the party is to be summoned to answer an action at the suit of the plaintiff who is named, he is at once advised that he is summoned, not as a witness, nor for any other