Case Name: Dodge & Van Dyke vs. Samuel S. Bevil
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1870-01
Citations: 1 Mich. N.P. R. xii
Docket Number: 
Parties: Dodge & Van Dyke vs. Samuel S. Bevil.
Judges: 
Reporter: The Michigan Nisi Prius Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: xii–xiii

Head Matter:
Dodge & Van Dyke vs. Samuel S. Bevil.
A written confesssion ofjudgment is essential to give a Justice jurisdiction to enter judgment by confession, and when the files show that tho paper signed by the defendant was nota confession, the recital in the docketof such confession is a mere nullity The files are a• much original evidence as the docket.
Case made from Lapeer Circuit.

Opinion:
Opinion by
Cooley, J.
The action was upon a judgment purporting to have been rendered by a Justice of the Peace upon a written confession of the defendant, and without service of any process. 'The defendant denied that he ever signed any such confession. The Justice's files were put in evidence, and the only paper signed by the defendant was a promissory note, payable to the plaintiffs, and bearing date the same day as the judgment. The Circuit. Court. held the docket conclusive, and gave judgment for the plaintiff.
Held, that the files were as much original evidence as the ^docket; that a written confession of judgment was essential to give the Justice jurisdiction; and that when the files show .that the paper signed by the defendant was not a confession of judgment, the recital of such confession in the docket is a mere nullity.
Judgment reversed.