WILLIAM HENRY BRYANT, Appellant, v. VICTORIA BEER, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, MONTSERRADO COUNTY.

Decided December 4, 1936.

1. The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and nineteenth chapters of the legal forms and principles found in the Old Blue Book are not to be used in cases tried before justices of the peace.

2. Hence, a complaint before a justice of the peace is wrongly dismissed because of the omission of the words “all of which the plaintiff is ready to prove,” a provision made in section four of Chapter IV.

3. The rule above stated is also to control in cases pending in a municipal court.

Appellant moved to dismiss plaintiff-appellee’s action brought in the Municipal Court of the Commonwealth District of Monrovia and appealed the denial of the motion to the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit, which affirmed the judgment of the lower court. On appeal to this Court, judgment affirmed.

A. B. Ricks for appellant. Momolu Dukuly for appellee.

MR. JUSTICE DOSSEN delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case originated in the Municipal Court of the Commonwealth District of Monrovia. At the call of the case for hearing the counsel for defendant in the municipal court, now appellant, moved the said court to dismiss said action, and rule the plaintiff to pay all legal costs for the following legal reasons, to wit:

“Because the complaint is defective and bad, in that it does not end with the words, ‘all of which the plaintiff is ready to prove.'”

Appellee, the plaintiff in said municipal court, in resisting said motion said, inter alia, that the said motion ought to be denied for the following legal reasons, to wit:

“Because plaintiff says, that the Municipal Court before which this action was brought has concurrent jurisdiction with the Justice of the Peace Court. Actions are brought in said court without the insertion of the words ‘all of which plaintiff is ready to prove,’ in the complaint.”

The trial judge in passing upon this point laid in the said motion, denied the motion, to which the defendant excepted, and appealed to the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit, Montserrado County, upon this one point. The said court, after mature consideration and inspection of the law governing same, affirmed the judgment of municipal court, and ruled appellant to pay all costs, to which ruling the said appellant again excepted and appealed to this Court for a review of said ruling.

The contention of the defendant in the municipal court who has twice appealed, is evidently based upon the 4th section of chapter IV, page 41 of the Liberian Statutes, Old Blue Book; but according to page 79, chapter XXI, section 2 of said Old Blue Book the justices of the peace are not to follow said provision of law, as was shown during the argument. The above cited provision reads : “That the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and nineteenth chapters of this title . . . shall not apply to cases tried before Justices of the Peace.”

On the other hand there is a separate form of complaint prescribed for cases tried in courts of a justice of the peace, approved April 30, 1907, page 53, section 133, which reads as follows, to wit:

“Before Justice of the Peace for…County. A.D. ”

“The undersigned…plaintiff, complains of…defendant, that said defendant is justly in-debted to him in the sum of $… for… as appears by the instrument in writing (or Bill of particulars) hereunto annexed. Said defendant having promised to pay plaintiff the sum of money herein set forth, upon demand made for payment had failed so to do. Wherefore plaintiff demands judgment for said amount. “Dated this …day of…A.D”

“Plaintiff.
“Sworn to before me this …day of …A.D
“Justice of the Peace for the County of…”

This is the form prescribed for complaints filed in the courts of justices of the peace; and incidentally applies also to matters pending in the Municipal Court of Monrovia, for, by inspection of an Act Creating Monrovia a Commonwealth District, Laws of 1921-22, chapter IX, section 8, we find :

“That there shall be established within the City limits, one Municipal Court, which shall be presided over by a Police Magistrate, who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and within the limits of the City shall have the power and jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace over the violation of all City Ordinances, regulations and laws of the Republic, and shall be governed by the provisions of the law relating to Justices of the Peace.”

This Court having carefully compared the law governing the procedure in courts of the justices of the peace with that in the Municipal Court, Commonwealth District of Monrovia, is of the opinion that the motion of the appellant, defendant in the municipal court, was without merit, and that the court below did not err in denying said motion, and ruling appellant to pay all legal costs. Hence we are of opinion that the appeal should be dismissed, the appellant ruled to pay all legal costs, and the Circuit Court directed to resume jurisdiction and enforce its judgment; and it is so ordered.

Affirmed.