Case Name: Donald Ross, petitioner for certiorari, versus Jeremiah Ellsworth & al.
Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Maine
Decision Date: 1860
Citations: 49 Me. 417
Docket Number: 
Parties: Donald Ross, petitioner for certiorari, versus Jeremiah Ellsworth & al.
Judges: Rice, Appleton, Cutting, May and Davis, JJ., concurred.
Reporter: Maine Reports
Volume: 49
Pages: 417–418

Head Matter:
Donald Ross, petitioner for certiorari, versus Jeremiah Ellsworth & al.
The writ of certiorari can present only tlie record; nothing dehors the record can bo shown in order to obtain it.
The Court will not issue a writ of certiorari to quash the proceedings of two justices of the peace and of the quorum in taking the disclosure of a poor debtor, if the record does not show that the debtor was admitted to the oath. Whether the writ can be issued at all in such cases — quaere.
On Exceptions to the rulings of Goodenow, J.
Petition for a writ of certiorari to quash the proceedings of the respondents, as justices of the peace and of the quorum in taldng the disclosure of Joseph Berry, under the laws for the relief of poor debtors. The presiding Judge granted the writ, and respondents excepted. The case is sufficiently stated in the opinion.
Gilbert, for the petitioner.
Tollman & Larrdbee, for the respondents.

Opinion:
The opinion of the Court was drawn up by
Tenney, C. J.
From the facts stated in the petition, and from a copy of the disclosure, certified by the respondents as justices of the peace and quorum of the county of Sagadahoc, some of the proceedings were quite irregular. But no error of record appears from any document before the Court. No record evidence shows that Joseph Berry, the alleged debtor, was admitted to his oath by the respondents.
The writ prayed for can present only the record of the proceedings of the tribunal. Nothing dehors the record can be proved by the petitioner.
It has been doubted whether the writ of certiorari can be properly issued in a case of this kind. The statute in relation to poor debtors contains only, one provision for a record by justices of the peace and quorum, and that is in § 29 and 30 of c. 113, which treats of matters foreign to the case before us. Pike v. Harriman, 39 Maine, 52.
Exceptions sustained. — Writ denied, without costs.
Rice, Appleton, Cutting, May and Davis, JJ., concurred.