State Ex Rel. Bryan v. Rousseau

Bynum| Ji The State on the relation of Fell & Bro. v. Porter et al, 69 N. C. Reports 140, is decisive [of this case. It is there' held that if the action is on a bond the penalty of which exceeds two hundred dollars, the penalty of the bond is the sum demanded, although the damages claimed for the breach thereof, is less than two hundred *195 ■dollars. Sucli is the construction put upon the Constitution, Art. 4, secs. 13, 33; and Bat. Rev., chap. 80, sec. 13, cannot have the efiect of changing the jurisdiction of the Courts, as fixed by the Constitution. It follows that this action, having been brought on a penal bond for the sum of twelve thousand dollars, before a Justice of the Peace, ought to have been dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Feb CueiaM. Judgment reversed and action dismissed.