Case Name: James Nichols v. Nathaniel Packard
Court: Vermont Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Vermont
Decision Date: 1844-01
Citations: 16 Vt. 147
Docket Number: 
Parties: James Nichols v. Nathaniel Packard.
Judges: 
Reporter: Vermont Reports
Volume: 16
Pages: 147–148

Head Matter:
James Nichols v. Nathaniel Packard.
The motion for a certificate of wilful and malicious act, in an action of tort, should be made in the county court; and, if not made there, .the motion will not be entertained in the supreme court.
If such certificate be granted by the county court, and the cause pass to the supreme court on exceptions to other points decided, the affirmance ofthe judgment will extend to the certificate also.
This was an action of slander; verdict and judgment in the county court for plaintiff; — motion in arrest of judgment overruled, and exceptions. After judgment was affirmed in this court, the counsel for the plaintiff moved for a certificate that the cause of action arose from the wilful and malicious act of the defendant, &c.

Opinion:
By the Court.
If such a certificate had been granted in the court below, the affirmance of their judgment here would extend to the certificate also. But, when no adjudication of the kind is made in the court below, an original motion for such an adjudication and certificate cannot be entertained in this court. As the present statute contemplates two grades of certificate, (13 Vt. 375 in the matter of Horace Wheelock) the matter could only be properly determined by the court before whom the trial was had. Under the present statute this court have never made an original adjudication, upon which to predicate such a certificate in either the first or second degree.