Opinion
Appeal from the County Court of the County of Calaveras.
This was an action, brought by Freeman and others, for the recovery of the possession of a mining claim, before a justice of the peace, who rendered judgment for defendants. Plaintiffs appealed to the County Court, where a trial de novo was had, and judgment entered for the plaintiffs. On the trial in the County Court, the defendants offered to prove one of the allegations in their answer, that the claim in controversy exceeded in value the sum of two hundred dollars, which the Court refused to permit them to do. Defendants appealed.
COUNSEL:
Robinson, Beatty & Botts, for Appellants.
Crocker & Robinson, for Respondents.
JUDGES: Terry, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Murray, C. J., concurring.
OPINION
TERRY, Judge
The jurisdiction of justices of the peace is limited by the Constitution to cases in which the amount involved does not exceed two hundred dollars, excepting in proceedings arising under the statute concerning forcible entry and detainer. (See Zander v. Coe , 5 Cal. 230; and Van Etten v. Jilson , 6 Cal. 19; and Hart v. Moon , 6 Cal. 161.)
It follows that the Court erred in refusing to allow defendant to prove the value of the mining claim, as alleged in his answer.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.