Opinion
Decided January 8, 1908.
Citation — Names of Parties — Latin Words.
A citation to a resident of the county in which the suit is pending which states the names of the plaintiffs as "Charley Shepard et uxor," is insufficient to support a judgment by default, in that it fails to give the names of all the plaintiffs. The use of the Latin words "et uxor" criticized as probably being in violation of the statute which requires judicial proceedings to be conducted in English.
Error from the District Court of Hays County. Tried below before Hon. L. W. Moore.
Will G. Barber, for plaintiff in error.
B. P. Lane and O. L. Brown, for defendants in error.
This is an appeal from a judgment by default against the appellant in favor of Charley Shepard and Mary Shepard, his wife, and the only question that arises is whether the citation issued and served upon her was sufficient.
The land sued for by appellees is situated in Hays County, and the appellant resides in that county, and this is not a case in which the law requires a copy of the petition to accompany the citation, and in this instance the return of the officer upon the citation shows merely a service of a copy of the citation upon appellant. The citation does not state the names of all the plaintiffs. It is to the effect that "Charley Shepard et uxor are plaintiffs." The statute requires the citation to give the names of the parties, and there is also a law that requires judicial proceedings to be conducted in English. But if it could be assumed that "et uxor" means "and wife" and that she was the wife of "Charley Shepard," that would not be sufficient, for it is held in Heath v. Fraley, 50 Tex. 209, that when the wife is a party plaintiff with her husband, it is necessary for the citation to state her name. This case is approved in Durham v. Betterton, 79 Tex. 224. In Weems v. Watson, 91 Tex. 35, it is held that the statutory requirements are mandatory. Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.