His Honor bas found as a fact that the summons and warrant of attachment have been duly served, and there is no exception to the finding.
The only irregularity, therefore, in the proceeding is that the surety on the undertaking of the plaintiff signed his name' to the justification of the undertaking instead of to the undertaking itself, and as to this his Honor finds that it was the result of a mistake, and that it was the intention of the surety to sign the undertaking, and he thought he had done so.
The statute (Rev., sec. 163), directs the officer issuing a warrant of attachment to “require a written undertaking on the part of the plaintiff, with sufficient ^surety,” but it fails to prescribe any rule as to its execution, and a signing and delivery would be sufficient.
The authorities make a distinction between statutes requiring instruments to be signed and those requiring them to be subscribed, holding with practical unanimity in reference to the first class that it is not necessary for the name to appear on any particular part of the instrument, if written with the intent to-become bound; and as to the second class, that the name must be at the end of the instrument.
In Richards v. Lumber Co., 158 N. C., 56, dealing with this question, the Court said: “It is well settled in this State that when a signature is essential to the validity of an instrument it is not necessary that the signature appear at the end, unless the statute uses the word ‘subscribe.’ Devereux v. McMahan, 108 N. C., 134. This has always been rrtled in this State in regard to wills, as to which the signature may appear anywhere. If this is true of a ‘signature,’ it must also be true of the word ‘countersign.’ It has been often held that the place of signing is a matter of taste. Adams v. Field, 21 Vt., 264; 36 Cyc., 441.”
We are therefore of opinion that the surety signed the undertaking when it was first filed, and that it was then valid and binding on him.
*560 We are further of opinion that if invalid, the court bad tbe power to permit it to be filed afterwards. Pharr v. Commissioners, ante, 523.
Affirmed.