Opinion
4 Div. 595.
December 17, 1931.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Covington County; Emmet S. Thigpen, Judge.
E. O. Baldwin, of Andalusia, and Lange, Simpson Brantley, of Birmingham, for appellants.
The value of the car not having been fixed by the decree, there was nothing on which to issue an execution, and the issuance of same was void.
Thos. E. Knight, Jr., Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Brief did not reach the Reporter.
The final decree of condemnation in this cause was made and entered by the chancellor on February 21, 1927. This decree, which was a final decree, failed to ascertain and fix the value of the car, which the petition avers was used at the time of its seizure in and about the transportation of alcoholic or other prohibited liquors or beverages. This was a fatal defect in the decree. The order of the court fixing the value of the car at $250 was not made and entered until June 1, 1928, which was more than a year after the rendition of the decree condemning said car, and ordering its sale. This last decree, by lapse of time, had passed out of the control of the court, and the order made fixing or attempting to fix the value of the car, and thus to supply a defect in the original decree, was and is void; it being coram non judice.
It follows that the motion to quash the execution should have been granted.
Reversed and remanded.
ANDERSON, C. J., and BROWN and KNIGHT, JJ., concur.