Court : US Supreme Court
Cook v. United States - 138 U.S. 157 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Cook v. United States, 138 U.S. 157 (1891) Cook v. United States No. 1311 Argued December 11-12, 1890 Decided January 28, 1891 138 U.S. 157 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS Syllabus By the Act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 783, c. 333, "to establish a United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," the strip of public land lying south of Kansas and Colorado, and between the one hundredth and the one hundred and third meridians, and known as No Man's Land, was brought within the jurisdiction of the court for the Indian Territory so established, and was attached for limited judicial purposes to the Eastern District of Texas. The history of and the legislation concerning the Indian Territory considered and reviewed. By the Act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 783, c. 333, the intention of Congress to confer upon the Circuit Court of the United States i...
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Cook County v. Calumet & C. C. & D. Co. - 138 U.S. 635 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Cook County v. Calumet & C. C. & D. Co., 138 U.S. 635 (1891) Cook County v. Calumet and Chicago Canal and Dock Company No. 1406 Submitted January 9, 1891 Decided March 2, 1891 138 U.S. 635 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Syllabus To give this court jurisdiction of a writ of error to a state court, it must appear affirmatively not only that a federal question was presented for decision by the highest court of the state having jurisdiction, but that its decision was necessary to the determination of the cause, and that it was actually decided, or that the judgment as rendered could not have been given without deciding it. De Saussure v. Gaillard, 127 U. S. 216 , Johnson v. Risk, 137 U. S. 300 , affirmed. Page 138 U. S. 636 Tested by this rule, the writ of error cannot be sustained, as the judgment of the state court proceeded wholly upon the construction of the terms a...
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Peake v. New Orleans - 139 U.S. 342 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Peake v. New Orleans, 139 U.S. 342 (1891) Peake v. New Orleans No. 852 Argued October 27-29, 1890 Decided March 9, 1891 139 U.S. 342 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA Syllabus The judgment at law on which the bill in this case is based absolved the defendant from any primary obligation of debtor to creditor, and left it chargeable only as trustee of a fund out of which plaintiff's claim was to be paid, and it was unquestionably correct. To the extent that the City of New Orleans may be considered as such a trustee, it is a compulsory trustee by force of the legislation of 1871, and not a voluntary and contractual trustee, and its responsibility should be restricted to the narrowest limits. In failing to collect the uncollected assessments, the city was guilty of no dereliction of duty as trustee. The various assessment proceedings, taken in connection with...
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Handley v. Stutz - 139 U.S. 417 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Handley v. Stutz, 139 U.S. 417 (1891) Handley v. Stutz No. 1516 Submitted January 12, 1891 Decided March 30, 1891 139 U.S. 417 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE Syllabus The failure to enter a vote of stockholders in a corporation in the corporation records at the time when it was adopted does not affect its validity. A resolution of stockholders in a corporation organized under the laws of Kentucky to increase the capital stock of the corporation, passed at a meeting held without the limits of that state, is binding upon the members present and voting for it. An increase by a Kentucky corporation of its capital stock within the amount authorized by law is not invalidated by reason of the fact that no amendment of the charter authorizing such increase was ever recorded or published as required by the laws of that state. When a stockholder in a corporation who a...
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Interstate Land Co. v. Maxwell Land Grant Co. - 139 U.S. 569 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Interstate Land Co. v. Maxwell Land Grant Co., 139 U.S. 569 (1891) Interstate Land Company v. Maxwell Land Grant Company No. 1267 Argued March 10, 1891 Decided April 6, 1891 139 U.S. 569 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Syllabus A demurrer admits facts well pleaded, but does not admit that the construction of a written instrument set forth in the bill is the true one or that its legal effect is contrary to that which its language imports. Questions affecting the validity of the Maxwell land grant as to the authority of the Mexican government to make it are no longer open, and a party claiming the same land under a prior grant from the Mexican government must, to succeed in his claim, recover on the strength of his own title. An empresario grant of land in Mexico operated to designate a tract of country within which the empresarios might...
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Pennoyer v. McConnaughy - 140 U.S. 1 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Pennoyer v. McConnaughy, 140 U.S. 1 (1891) Pennoyer v. McConnaughy No. 1280 Submitted January 5, 1891 Decided April 20, 1891 140 U.S. 1 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON Syllabus A suit in equity against the Board of Land Commissioners of the State of Oregon, brought by a purchaser of swamp and overflowed lands under the Act of October 26, 1870, in order to restrain the defendants from doing acts which the bill alleges are violations of the plaintiff's contract with the state when he purchased the lands, and which are unconstitutional, destructive of the plaintiff's rights and privileges, and which it is alleged will work irreparable damage and mischief to his property rights so acquired, is not a suit against the state within the meaning of the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The cases reviewed in which suits at law or in equity against o...
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In re Mayfield - 141 U.S. 107 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court In re Mayfield, 141 U.S. 107 (1891) In re Mayfield No. 15, Original Submitted April 27, 1891 Decided May 25, 1891 141 U.S. 107 ORIGINAL Syllabus A member of the Cherokee Nation, committing adultery with an unmarried woman within the limits of its territory, is amenable only to the courts of the Nation. This was a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner averred that on the 19th day of October, 1890, he was indicted in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas, and subsequently tried, convicted and Page 141 U. S. 108 sentenced to the Detroit House of Corrections for three years for the crime of adultery in the Indian Country. He further states that he was "a Cherokee Indian by blood, and a recognized member of the Cherokee tribe of Indians, and resided at the time of his arrest for the crime aforesaid in the said Cherokee Nation, where the said crime is alleged to have been ...
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O'Brien v. Miller - 168 U.S. 287 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court O'Brien v. Miller, 168 U.S. 287 (1897) O'Brien v. Miller No. 40 Argued April 2, 1897 Decided November 29, 1891 168 U.S. 287 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT Syllabus The Johnson, an American ship, was chartered at Valparaiso to carry a cargo of nitrate of soda, of 1938 tons, from Caleta to Hamburg consigned to a London firm. On the way, she sprang a leak, and put into Callao. There 1200 tons of the cargo were transferred to the Leslie, a British bark, and the Johnson was repaired, the master executing a bottomry bond to meet the expenses of the repairs. That bond bound the Johnson, cargo and freight, hypothecated the portion of the cargo transhipped to the bark and further provided that "if during the said voyage an utter loss of the said vessel [ in the singular ] by fire, enemies, pirates, the perils of the sea or navigation, or any other casualty shall unavoidably happe...
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McLish v. Roff - 141 U.S. 661 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court McLish v. Roff, 141 U.S. 661 (1871) McLish v. Roff No. 1158 Submitted October 13, 1891 Decided December 7, 1891 141 U.S. 661 ERROR TO THE UNITED STATES COURT FOR THE INDIAN TERRITORY Syllabus Under section 5 of the Act of March 3, 1891, c. 517, 26 Stat. 526, "to establish Circuit Courts of Appeal," etc., the appeal or writ of error which may be taken "from the existing circuit courts direct to the Supreme Court," "in any case in which the jurisdiction of the court is in issue," can be Page 141 U. S. 662 taken only after final judgment, when the party against whom it is rendered must elect whether he will take his writ of error or appeal to this Court upon the question of jurisdiction alone, or to the circuit court of appeals upon the whole case. The case is stated in the opinion. MR. JUSTICE LAMAR delivered the opinion of the Court. This was a suit brought in the United States court for the Indian Territory, Third...
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Knight v. United States Land Association - 142 U.S. 161 (1891) U.S. Supreme Court Knight v. United States Land Association, 142 U.S. 161 (1891) Knight v. United States Land Association No. 824 Argued October 23, 26, 1891 Decided December 21, 1891 142 U.S. 161 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus This Court takes judicial notice of facts concerning the pueblo of San Francisco not contradictory of the findings of the referee in this case, which are recited in former decisions of this Court, in statutes of the United States and of the California, and in the records of the Department of the Interior. It is settled law that a patent for public land is void at law if the grantor state had no title to the premises embraced in it or if the officer who issued it had no authority to do so, and that the want of such title or authority can be shown in an action at law. Thee power to make and correct surveys of the public lands belongs exclusively Page 142 U...
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