Eubank v. People, 50 Ill. 496 (1869)

June 1869 · Illinois Supreme Court
50 Ill. 496

Spencer S. Eubank v. The People of the State of Illinois.

Recognizance—must be a judgment of forfeiture. To sustain a judgment upon a scire facias on a recognizance, there must be a judgment of forfeiture. It is not enough that a valid judgment of forfeiture is set out in the scire facias,—it must be given in evidence.

Writ of Error to the Circuit Court of Washington county; the Hon. Silas L. Bryan, Judge, presiding.

This was a proceeding by scire facias upon a recognizance, in which a judgment was rendered against the defendants. There was no judgment of forfeiture given in evidence, and the want thereof is assigned as error.

Mr. J. M. Durham, for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Washington Bushnell, Attorney General, and Mr. John Michan, State’s Attorney, for the people.

Mr. Justice Lawrence

delivered the opinion of the Court:

In this case the only judgment of forfeiture offered in evidence, as appears bv the bill of exceptions, was a mere memorandum by the clerk, which probably was a literal copy *497of the minutes of the judge. It does not even name the parties against whom this scire facias has issued. A valid judgment of forfeiture was set out in the scire facias, but it was not offered in evidence.

For want of a proper judgment of forfeiture, this judgment on the scire facias must be reversed.

Judgment reversed.