Smith v. Meredith

Grason, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The record in this case shows that, on the 25th day of November, 1852, the appellant obtained two judgments against the appellee, before a justice of the peace for Washington county, one for the sum of .sixty-one, and the other, for the sum of sixty-four dollars, with interest from their date, and that on the 13th day of December following, the judgments were duly recorded in the clerk’s office of the Circuit Court for Washington county, in pursuance of the provisions of the Act of 1841, ch. 64, so as to make them liens upon the lands of the appellee. On the 23d day of November, 1864, the appellant filed his bill of complaint, on the equity side of the Circuit Court for Washington county, alleging the above facts, and charging that, at the time of the rendition and recording of the said judgments, the appellee was the owner of a house and lot in Boonsboro, and of other real estate in Washington county, to which the lien of the aforesaid judgments attached, and that no officer had power or authority, under the Act of 1841, ch. 64, to issue executions upon the judgments thus recorded in the clerk’s office, and that the appellant was, therefore, remediless at law, and praying the ⁴³¹ Court to enforce his liens by a decree for the sale of the .lands of the appellee. To this bill the appellee filed a demurrer, which was sustained, and a decree was passed by the Court below dismissing the bill of complaint, from which decree this appeal is taken, and the only question presented for the consideration of this Court is whether the appellant could have enforced the liens of his judgments by executions at law.

The Act of 1841, chap. 64, under which the judgments were recorded, provided that no judgment rendered by a justice of the peace for Washington county, should be a lien upon the lands of the defendant in the judgment,