Thomson v. Superior Court of Mendicino

Justice’s Court—Entry op Judgment on Verdict—Entry op Verdict Will Not Support Appeal.—Under section 893 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as the same was amended in 1907, providing that the judgment of a justice of the peace must be entered substantially in the form required in section 667 and that “no judgment shall have effect for any purpose until so entered,” the entry of the verdict of a jury by the justice in his docket is not the entry of the judgment and will not support an appeal to the superior court taken from the judgment.

Id.—Appeal prom Judgment Prior to Entry Is Premature—Jurisdiction op Appeal..—In an action tried before a jury in a justice’s court an appeal from the judgment, under section 974 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is taken after the entry of the verdict but before the entry of the judgment, is premature, and the superior court does not acquire jurisdiction thereof.

Id.—Form op Judgment—Entry Essential.—In such an action, while the justice is not required to formulate a judgment with that particularity required of judgments entered in the superior court, still it is essential to a substantial compliance with the statute that he make some entry in his docket showing that he has rendered judgment on the verdict.

Id.—Rendition op Judgment Equivalent to Entry.—A judgment in a justice’s court is not “rendered,” as that word is used in section 974 of the Code of Civil Procedure, until it is “entered” in the justice’s docket, or can legally be held to be entered. There is no other way of “rendering” a judgment in such a court.