Opinion ID: 1043976
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Common Law History in Tennessee

Text: This Court has long viewed writs of error coram nobis as a measure of “most remedial nature, which seems to have been invented lest in any way there should be an oppressive defect of justice.” Jones & Co. v. Pearce, Park & Co., 59 Tenn. 281, 286 (1873). The remedy has its origin in the common-law. See, e.g., Merritt v. Parks, 25 Tenn. 332, 335-36 (1845) (explaining that “[t]o hold that [the writ of error coram nobis] does not apply . . . would be to give an effect to these summary remedies beyond the purpose of their creation, and alike violative of the general policy of our laws and the principles of right. This being so, there is no difficulty in holding that the writ of error coram nobis is the proper remedy. It is the only remedy at law.”). In Crawford v. Williams, 31 Tenn. 341, 345 (1851), this Court ruled that “[i]f a judgment be erroneous in matter of fact only, and not in matter of law, it may be reversed in the same court by writ of error coram nobis.” Recently, in Mixon, this Court, relying on language appearing in Green v. State, 216 S.W.2d 305, 306-07 (Tenn. 1948), observed that the common-law writ of error coram nobis had been “limited in scope to civil proceedings” until adopted by statute in 1955. 983 S.W.2d at 668; see also State v. Vasques, 221 S.W.3d 514, 524 (Tenn. 2007). While our extensive research indicates that in 6 “Although hedged about with a daunting array of substantive and procedural restrictions, coram nobis is the only means available in a limited category of situations for mounting a collateral attack on a final judgment.” Prickett, 30 Santa Clara L. Rev. at 2. -6- this state writs of error coram nobis were used primarily in civil cases—similar to the use of the writ in other states—it appears that the writ, although rarely sought, was also available in criminal actions in Tennessee. As early as 1855, for example, this Court made the following observation: “the prisoner was again arrested, and on his petition the execution of the judgment was suspended by order of the circuit judge.” Andrews v. State, 34 Tenn. 550, 551 (1855). The published summary of this case provides that the sentence of the defendant was superseded until the next term “upon the petition of the prisoner for a writ of error coram nobis.” Id.7