Case ID: va_38/html/0751-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "SMITH, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Abrahams v. The Commonwealth.
    December, 1841.
    General Court — Jurisdiction to Award Writ of Error to Inferior Court. -The general court lias no jurisdiction to award a writ of error to a refusal of a judg-e of a circuit superior court, in vacation, to award a writ of error to a judgment of an inferior court.
    Same — Same.—Nor has this court jurisdiction to award a writ of error to a judgment of an inferior court.
    Petition for a writ of error. The hustings court of the city of Richmond imposed a fine of 20 dollars on Abrahams, for permitting a slave to go at large and hire himself out contrary to the statute 1 Rev. Code, ch. Ill, g 81, p. 442. Abrahams appeared in court, and made many objections to the regularity of the proceeding, and, among others, that the court had no original jurisdiction in such a case; that the court could not take cognizance of it, until it should have been acted on by a magistrate out of court. The court overruled the objections, and he filed a bill of exceptions, stating the  whole proceedings, and all his objections thereto. He presented a petition to the judge of the circuit superior court for the county of Henrico and city of Richmond, in vacation, praying a writ of error to the judgment; which the judge denied. And now he represented a petition to this- court, praying a writ of error to the refusal of the judge of the circuit superior court to award the writ.
    Gregory, for the petitioner.
    
      
      See note to Brown v. Com., 6 Va. Law Reg. 246, citing the principal case.
    
   SMITH, J.

It is the unanimous opinion of the judges, that this court has no jurisdiction of this case. The common law writ of error can only be awarded to some judgment, order or proceeding, of a court of record : and there is no statutory provision, authorizing this court to award such writ, for the purpose of reviewing the decision of a judge of a circuit superior court, in vacation, overruling an application for a writ of error. Nor has this court any jurisdiction to award a writ of error to the judgment of the hustings court; Anderson’s case, 4 Heigh 693. It being wholly unnecessary, we have not examined the record, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there was any error in the proceedings.

Writ of error denied.