Amadeo v. Northern Assurance Co., 201 U.S. 194 (1906)

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Amadeo v. Northern Assurance Company

Nos. 199-201

Argued March 8, 1906
Decided April 2, 1906
201 U.S. 194

ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF PORTO RICO

Syllabus

Royal Insurance Co. v. Miller, 199 U.S. 353, followed to effect that, in the absence of express legislation affecting Porto Rico, the law prior to the extension of the Civil Code thereto in 1889 concerning limitations of personal actions is that generally prevailing under Spanish law, and in these cases on insurance policies, the loss under which had occurred prior to 1889, the twenty-year term applied and not the fifteen-year term applicable under the Civil Code after its extension to Porto Rico. A party having no legal interest in maintaining or reversing a judgment is not always a necessary party to writ of error or appeal, and if the defendant has pleaded below that a party plaintiff has no interest in the cause of action, having assigned the same, and as a result of such plea the assignee has been substituted, the defendant cannot assert in this Court that the original plaintiff was more than a nominal party, and the writ will not be dismissed on account of his death and failure to give notice to his succession.

Objections as to forms of writ of error not taken below will not be entertained here to defeat the jurisdiction of this Court, and an amendment bringing in a corporation in liquidation as assignee of the party plaintiff held, under such conditions, to bring in the liquidator also.

Although irregularities may exist in appeal bonds, if the cases are sent back for further proceeding, no order need be entered here regarding them.

The facts are stated in the opinion.