Case Name: M'Coy and Another v. Elder
Court: Supreme Court of Indiana
Jurisdiction: Indiana
Decision Date: 1828-11-05
Citations: 2 Blackf. 183
Docket Number: 
Parties: M’Coy and Another v. Elder.
Judges: 
Reporter: Blackford
Volume: 2
Pages: 183–185

Head Matter:
M’Coy and Another v. Elder.
An execution commanding the sheriff that of the goods of «2., B., and C., he make, &c. which D. had recovered against the said A. and others, is not objectionable for not stating the recovery to have been against the said defendants ^2., B., and C.; the expressions being substantially the same.
A joint execution may issue against a judgment-debtor and his replevin-surety.
Debt on a bond for the delivery of goods, taken on an execution which had issued against a judgment-debtor and his replevin-surety. Judgment, on demurrer, for the plaintiff. Held, that the measure of damages, if they did not exceed the penalty of the bond, was the amount due on the original judgment, with interest and costs; but that the assessment could not exceed the penalty.
APPEAL from tbe Decatur Circuit Court.—The bond on which this suit was brought, was executed by A. C. M’Coy and G. S. M’Coy, the defendants below, to A. Elder, the plaintiff below, conditioned for the delivery, at a particular time and place, of certain property to the sheriff, upon which he had levied an execution in favour of the plaintiff
Wednesday, November 5,

Opinion:
Scott, J.
Debt on a delivery-bond. Demurrer to the declaration, and judgment for the plaintiff for the penalty of the bond, to be discharged by the payment of the damages sustained. Writ of inquiry waived and damages assessed by the Court, by consent of the parties. The record of the original judgment, on which the execution and replevin-bond were founded, was produced in evidence, and final judgment rendered for the amount appearing to be due.
It is objected by the plaintiff in error that the execution is void, because it refers to a judgment against Angus C. M'Coy and others, not named, and the sheriff is commanded to levy it on the property of Angus C. M'Coy, John C. M'Coy, James Hamilton, Cyrus Hamilton, and John S. Forsyth. In the execution, as set out in the bill of exceptions, the command to the sheriff is in these words: You are hereby commanded that of the goods, chattels, lands, and tenements, of Angus C. M'Coy, James Hamilton, Cyrus Hamilton, John C. M'Coy, (and John S. Forsyth as security,) you cause to be made, to satisfy Andnew Elder, the sum of 212 dollars, which the said Andrew Elder, late in our Decatur Circuit Court, recovered against the said Angus C. M'Coy and others. There is no ambiguity in this phraseology; the execution-defendants are all named in the first instance, and the allegation that the amount to be made had been recovered against the said Angus C> M'Coy and otN ers, is tantamount to saying it had been recovered against the said defendants, repeating all their names.
It is further objected that the execution is against five defendants, and the judgment on which it was issued is against four only. There is nothing in this objection. The judgment is against Angus C. M'Coy, James Hamilton, Cyrus Hamilton, and John Q. M'Coy; and, after judgment rendered, John S. Forsyth became replevin-surety; the execution therefore very properly issued against the five.
The only remaining objection, which we deem it necessary to notice particularly, is, that the judgment, replevin-bond, and execution, were not proper evidence of the amount which the plaintiff was entitled to recover. Had the amount of the original judgment exceeded the penalty of the delivery-bond, and had judgment been rendered for that amount, there would have been some ground for this objection. The statute, authorising delivery-bonds, contemplates a bond in double the amount of the value of the propertyseized; that value is a matter to be settled between the sheriff and the execution-defendant at the time of giving the bond, and the penalty of the bond is a limit to the damages, which the defendant and his sureties agree to pay in case of failure to deliver the property. Below this amount, we know of no measure of damages better adapted to the purposes of justice, than" the original judgment with interest and costs ,
Stevens, for the appellants.
Lane and Smith, for the appellee.
Several ¡other points have been noticed by the plaintiff in error, as defects in the proceedings, which,' if they are defects at all, should have been taken advantage of at an earlier stage of the proceedings. The judgment of the .Circuit Court must be affirmed.
Per Curiam.
The judgment is afijrmed, with 5 per cent, damages and costs.
The statute now is, that, in cases like that in the text, the amount due on the execution shall be assessed in favour of the plaintiff, provided the property so taken be' of sufficient value to satisfy the same, -and if not, then ¡the value of the property so taken, together with ten per centum thereon. R. C. 1831, p. 239.
It is decided, that, under this act, the plaintiff is entitled to the 10 per cent, damages, as well where the value of the property is sufficient to satisfy the execution, hs where it is not. Mitchell et al. v. Denbo, May term, 1833. The law is the same in the case of delivery-bonds taken by constables. R. C. 1831, p. 107.