17-564 Fines; actions to recover.
17-564. Fines; actions to recover.Fines may in all cases, and in addition to any other mode provided, be recovered by suit or action before a court of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the state. In any such suit or action, where pleading is necessary, it shall be sufficient to declare generally for the amount claimed to be due in respect to the violation of the ordinance, referring to its title and the date of its adoption or passage, and showing as nearly as may be the facts of the alleged violation. SourceLaws 1879, § 72, p. 220; R.S.1913, § 5138; C.S.1922, § 4313; C.S.1929, § 17-504; R.S.1943, § 17-564; Laws 1972, LB 1032, § 108. AnnotationsPolice judge is authorized to collect fines by execution, or such fines may be recovered by suit. Cleaver v. Jenkins, 84 Neb. 565, 121 N.W. 992 (1909).A prosecution for a violation of city ordinance, which act does not violate the criminal laws of state, is a civil action to recover a penalty, and is not a debt within the meaning of the constitutional provision prohibiting imprisonment for debt. Peterson v. State, 79 Neb. 132, 112 N.W. 306 (1907).Although justice of the peace, city attorney, and chief of police acted in excess of jurisdiction in arresting plaintiff and in attaching and selling his hogs for payment of fine and costs, they were immune from civil rights action. Duba v. McIntyre, 501 F.2d 590 (8th Cir. 1974).