Case ID: ga_33/html/0037-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "\n      By the Court —", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Loyd, Perryman & Mills, plaintiffs in error, vs. William McTeer and Edward R. Sasseen, defendants in error.
    If the condition of a bail bond is more onerous than to compel the appearance of the principal defendant, it is illegal and void.
    
      Seirefaeias on the bail bond, in Whitfield Superior Court. Decision made by Judge Walker, at April Term, 1861.
    The facts and circumstances of this case are as follows':
    Loyd, Perryman & Mills, instituted suit against William McLeer, to recover the amount of an open account.
    In this action bail was required by the plaintiffs, and the defendant McTeer, as principal, and Edward R. Sasseen as his surety, entered into a bond or obligation, subject to the condition following, that is to say:
    “ The condition of this bond is such that, whereas, a process requiring bail in an action of assumpsit, returnable to the April Terra, 1855, of Whitfield Superior Court, at the suit of Loyd, Perryman & Mills, against the said William McTeer, has been served upon the said William McTeer. Now if the said William McTeer, shall appear, stand to, abide, and perform the final judgment of the Court in said case, then this bond to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.”-
    At the April Term, 1857, the plaintiffs obtained judgment against McTeer, upon which a capias ad satisfaciendum was p regularly issued, which was duly returned • with an entry of non est inventus thereon by the proper officer.
    A scire facias then issued against Sasseen, to make him liable for the amount of the judgment as the bail of McTeer.
    Sasseen demurred to the scire facias, and moved the Court to award a judgment of non-suit against the plaintiffs, because the conditions of the bond were illegal, and imposed upon him onerous obligations, which the law did not warrant.
    The Court sustained the demurrer and motion of Sasseen, and non-suited the plaintiffs on the ground taken in the motion.
    This decision is the error alleged.
    W. K. Moore, for plaintiff in error.
    McCutchen, (by Aikin) contra.
    
   By the Court

Lyon, J., delivering the opinion.

The object of a bail bond is to compel the appearance of the principal, and if it imposes other and more onerous conditions it is void: Tidd. Pr., 224; Thorner vs. Whetstone, Dyer. R., 119; Rogers vs. Reeves, 1 T. R., 418; Nicker vs. Davis et. al., 15 Ga. R., 573. This bond requires the principal'not only to appear, but to stand to, abide and perform the final judgment of the Court in said case.” ■ This is a condition more onerous than is required by law, and it is therefore void.

Let the judgment be affirmed.