Case Name: CLARK v. BOND
Court: Supreme Court of Ohio
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Decision Date: 1833-05
Citations: 1 Ohio Ch. 282
Docket Number: 
Parties: CLARK v. BOND.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of cases at law and in chancery Ohio
Volume: 1
Pages: 282–283

Head Matter:
CLARK v. BOND.
Minor executing a mortgage and judgment against — no relief in chancery — limitations— sleeping upon one’s rights.
Where a minor has executed a mortgage, and judgment has gone against him upon sci. fa. and two nihils, his remedy is by writ of error, and if he has slept upon his legal rights until they are barred by the statute of limitations, chancery will not afford him redress.
Chancery. The bill makes the following case: that the complainant purchased of the defendant a lot of ground, and executed his mortgage to secure the purchase money. Payment not having been made, a scire facias was sued out upon the .mortgage, two nihils were returned, judgment entered, and the mortgaged premises sold by the sheriff.for less than the sum due. Then a scire facias was sued out to have a general judgment and execution for the balance due. Two nihils were returned here also, and a judgment taken for the balance, without appearance by the defendant, which remains unsatisfied. The complainant prays to have the judgment enjoined, because, as he alleges, he was a minor at the time of the mortgage and the scire facias, and although he lived in the county, he had no notice of the suits.
The answer denies all fraud or knowledge of the complainant’s minority or place of residence.

Opinion:
Collett, C. J.
The bill must be dismissed. If the complainant has any remedy, it is strictly a legal remedy. If it be true, that the proceedings in the court below took place while the defendant was a minor; or if, during his minority, he executed the mortgage' on which they were founded, his remedy should have been sought through a writ of error, not by bill in equity. But he has slept upon his rights ten years, until barred by the act of limitation, and now seeks the aid of this Court; because he has foregone his legal remedy. If this proceeding were to obtain countenance in this Court, every case at law, where the party had slept until he has forfeited his right to proceed at law, would be drawn here for review and the correction of errors.