President & Professors & Masters of William & Mary Coll. v. Hodgson

First page of the opinion President & Professors & Masters of William & Mary Coll. v. Hodgson, in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia: With Select Cases, Relating Chiefly to Points of Practice, Decided by the Superior Court of Chancery for the Richmond District, by William Hening and William Munford. Flatbush (N.Y.): I. Riley, 1809.

President & Professors & Masters of William & Mary Coll. v. Hodgson, 12 Va. (2 Hen. & M.) 557, was a case where the Court of Appeals discussed whether the Chancellor could grant an appeal from an interlocutory decree made during the vacation of the Court.

Background

The case came from the Superior Court of Chancery in Richmond, on an appeal allowed by the Chancellor in vacation from an interlocutory decree pronounced by himself at the preceding term. Unlike appeals from final decrees, appeals from interlocutory decrees were not a right, but rather were allowed only at the discretion of the High Court of Chancery for efficiency, furtherance of justice, or cost-saving purposes. These appeals were normally issued while the Court was in term, because it provided a fairer opportunity for the judge to exercise this discretion with all parties present. As a result, before rehearing the case, the Court of Appeals first had to address whether or not it had jurisdiction over the case, because the appeal was granted by the Chancellor in vacation - a power normally only exercised by the Court in term time.

The Court's Decision

The Court of Appeals dismissed the case, reasoning that Wythe had no power to grant appeals from interlocutory decrees in vacation. While an act of the legislature from January 23rd, 1798, enlarged the right of appeals and made it lawful for the High Court of Chancery to grant an appeal on interlocutory decrees at the discretion of the Judge, it made no mention of allowing such grants during vacation (while mentioning other specific actions that can be taken during vacation, such as discharging writs of ne exeat). The appeal was therefore found to be improvidently granted, and the case dismissed.

See also

• Wythe's Judicial Career