Case Name: MURPHY v. TILLING
Court: District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
Decision Date: 1894-01-02
Citations: 2 App. D.C. 130
Docket Number: No. 171
Parties: MURPHY v. TILLING.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia
Volume: 2
Pages: 130–131

Head Matter:
MURPHY v. TILLING.
Appealable Orders.
An order overruling a demurrer or a plea to a bill in equity, which does not proceed to a decree against the defendant, is not an order involving the merits of the suit, and is not appealable.
No. 171.
Submitted November 12, 1893.
Decided January 2, 1894.
Hearing on an appeal by the defendants from an order of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, holding an equity term, overruling a plea to a bill.
Appeal dismissed.
Mr. J. H. Adriaans for the appellant.
Mr. Woodbury Wheeler for the appellee.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Morris
delivered the opinion of.the Court:
This is an appeal from an order denying or overruling a plea to a bill in equity.
An order overruling a demurrer or a 'plea to a bill in equity, and which does not proceed to a decree against the defendant, is not an order that involves the merits of the suit and from which an appeal will lie. This has been too repeatedly held to require argument or citation of authority upon the subject. This appeal, therefore, must be dismissed.
But in dismissing it, the court feels constrained in the interest of justice, to animadvert upon some of the peculiarities of the case. A judgment, now admitted in open court by the appellant to be utterly null and void; an attachment issued by the justice of the peace who rendered the judgment and levied upon property worth more than fifty times the amount of the judgment, which was only for $28; a bill in equity to enjoin this judgment, the probable cost of which must be greatly in excess of the amount of the judgment; a plea to this bill by the justice of the peace, who is made a party to the suit, sworn to by him before himself — these are some of the characteristic features of the proceeding. It is to be hoped that they will not soon be repeated; and that the court below, to which we must remand this cause, will find a summary way to dispose of the matter.
The appeal is dismissed, with costs against the appellant; and the cause remanded to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia to be proceeded with according to law.