Billingsley v. Adams

McCulloch, C. J. Appellee sued appellant on a promissory note before a justice of the peace, and recovered a judgment, from which an appeal was taken to the circuit court. At the first term of the circuit court there were no proceedings in the cause, except that on application of appellant the cause was continued to the next term; and at the next term appellee moved for dismissal of the appeal on the ground that no affidavit for appeal had been filed. Appellant offered to file a substituted affidavit, but the court denied the request on the ground that no affidavit had been filed with the justice of the peace, and dismissed the appeal. From that judgment an appeal to this court has been prosecuted. The evidence heard by the court is not abstracted. Therefore, we must indulge the presumption that the court’s finding that no affidavit for appeal had ever been filed with the justice is sustained by sufficient evidence. The filing of an affidavit is prescribed by statute as a prerequisite to an appeal, and unless waived is ground for dismissal. Merrill v. Manees, 19 Ark. 647. Appellee did not take any substantive steps in the case before moving for the dismissal of the appeal; and mere delay from one term to another, where appellant’s rights were not prejudiced by the delay, did not constitute a waiver of the omission to file the affidavit. When the appeal was dismissed for want of an affidavit, it was error to render judgment on the appeal bond. The judgment of the court in dismissing the appeal is affirmed, but the judgment on the bond is reversed and quashed.