Court Opinion

ID: 9827829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 17:52:46.153717+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:37.406468
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
Appellant insists that we are in error in dismissing this case for want of jurisdiction. The record does not show that notice of appeal was given in open court; The county judge who tried the case certifies that within due time, and before the adjournment of the term of the court at which the case was tried, the attorney for appellant, Merton L. Harris, “came into my office and stated that he wished to except to the judgment and take an appeal in the case, but that I, through inadvertence, failed to enter said notice of appeal and exception on the docket, and the same is not entered on the minutes for said reason.” The statute provides that appeal is perfected “by the appellant giving notice of appeal in open court * * * w’hich shall be noted on the docket and entered of record,” and by filing the apiieal bond. We are of the opinion that by the attorney simply going'into the office of the judge and stating to the judge that he “wished to except to the judgment and take an appeal in the case,” is not.the giving of notice of appeal in open court. Notice of appeal given in open court takes the place of citation or other writ designed for the same purpose, and such notice is necessary to the exercise of jurisdiction of this court. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. O’Keefe, 87 Tex. 423, 28 S. W. 945. It is the giving of notice of appeal in open court that perfects the appeal. It is not shown in the certificate nor otherwise that the judge’s office was the place where the. court was then being held, nor that court was .then open at the judge’s office or" elsewhere at the time the attorney expressed to the judge his wish to except to the judgment and take an appeal. In Western Union Telegraph Co. v. O’Keefe the notice of appeal was in fact given. Appellant here relies upon and refers us to the certificate of the trial judge as showing the fact of notice of appeal given in open court. We accept the certificate as to what occurred, and are of the opinion that the certificate does not show the fact that notice óf' appeal was given in , open court. It is true that the statute does not prescribe a form of words in giving the notice, but it does prescribe the manner of giving the notice, and the place where given, and that what is done must be a notice of appeal of the case to the Court of Civil Appeals. A notice to the trial judge in his private office, conceding it to be otherwise sufficient, certainly would not be notice given in open court. The notice given in open court is intended to apprise the opposing party of the appeal taken, and is the only notice of that fact required. Russell v. Koennecke, 190 S. W. 253.
The motion is overruled.