Court : US Supreme Court
Eddy v. Lafayette - 163 U.S. 456 (1896) U.S. Supreme Court Eddy v. Lafayette, 163 U.S. 456 (1896) Eddy v. Lafayette No. 130 Submitted March 9, 1896 Decided May 25, 1896 163 U.S. 456 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus It appears by the affidavit of the agent of the plaintiffs in error that he was their agent when service of process was made upon him, and that their allegation that he was not then their agent was therefore untrue. The second section of the Act of March 3, 1887, c. 373, was intended to place receivers of railroads on the same plane with railroad companies both as respects their liability to be sued for acts done while operating a railroad and as respects the mode of service, and the service in the present case on an agent of the receivers was sufficient to bring them into court in a suit arising within the Indian Territory. The terms of the summons were in accordance with the provisions of § 4868, Mansfield's Digest of...
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Atlantic & Pacific R. Co. v. Laird - 164 U.S. 393 (1896) U.S. Supreme Court Atlantic & Pacific R. Co. v. Laird, 164 U.S. 393 (1896) Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company v. Laird No. 64 Submitted October 27, 1896 Decided November 30, 1896 164 U.S. 393 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR. THE NINTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The complaint in this case charged that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Company and the plaintiff in error, corporations of the State of Massachusetts, were at the time of the injury complained of, jointly operating a railroad; that the defendant was traveling upon it with a first class ticket, and that, by reason of negligence of the defendants an accident took place which caused the injuries to the plaintiff for which recovery was sought. The answers denied joint negligence, or joint operation of the road, and admitted that the plaintiff in error was operating it at the time. A trial resulted in a verdict in favor of the Atchison Company arid against the...
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Scott v. Donald - 165 U.S. 58 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court Scott v. Donald, 165 U.S. 58 (1897) Scott v. Donald Nos. 411-413 Argued October 21-22, 1896 Decided January 18, 1897 165 U.S. 58 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA Syllabus Where a suit is brought against defendants who claim to act as officers of a state and under color of an unconstitutional statute commit acts of wrong and injury to the property of the plaintiff, to recover money or property in their hands unlawfully taken by them in behalf of the state, or for compensation for damages, such suit is not an action against the state within the meaning of the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Although the question of the jurisdiction of the court below has not been certified to this Court in the manner provided by the fifth section of the Judiciary Act of March 3, 1891, yet, as the case is before it in a case in which the law of a state is clai...
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Atlantic & Pacific R. Co. v. Mingus - 165 U.S. 413 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court Atlantic & Pacific R. Co. v. Mingus, 165 U.S. 413 (1897) Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company v. Mingus No. 100 Argued December 15-16, 1896 Decided February 15, 1897 165 U.S. 413 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO Syllabus Congress did not intend by the statutes under which the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company received its grants of public land to vest the lands absolutely in the company, without a right to the government to reacquire them on failure of the company to comply with the conditions of the grant, and no express provision for a forfeiture was necessary in order to fix the rights of the government, and to authorize reentry in case of breach of condition. The Act of April 20, 1871, c. 33, 17 Stat. 19, did not alter, amend or repeal the Act of July 27, 1866, c. 278, 14 Stat. 292, in these respects, except so far as it permitted a foreclosure of any mortgage which...
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United States v. Santa Fe - 165 U.S. 675 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Santa Fe, 165 U.S. 675 (1897) United States v. Santa Fe No. 298 Argued January 7-8, 1896 Decided March 1, 1897 165 U.S. 675 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS Syllabus The Spanish law did not, proprio vigore, confer upon every Spanish villa or town a grant of four square leagues of land, to be measured from the center of the plaza of such town. Although, under that law, all towns were not, on their organization, entitled by operation of law to four square leagues, yet, at a time subsequent to the organization of Santa Fe, Spanish officials adopted the theory that the normal quantity which might be designated as the limits of new pueblos to be thereafter created was four square leagues. The rights of Santa Fe depend upon Spanish law as it existed prior to the adoption of that theory. An inchoate claim, which could not have been asserted as an absolute right against the governmen...
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Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago - 166 U.S. 226 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U.S. 226 (1897) Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. Chicago No. 129 Argued November 6, 9, 1896 Decided March 1, 1897 166 U.S. 226 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS This court has authority to reexamine the final judgment of the highest court of a State, rendered in a proceeding to condemn private property for public use, in which, after verdict, a defendant assigned as a ground for new trial that the statute under which the case was instituted and the proceedings under it were in violation of the clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbidding a State to deprive any person of property without due process of law, and which ground of objection was repeated in the highest court of the State, provided the judgment of the court, by its necessary operation, was adverse to the claim of Federal right and could not rest upon any independent groun...
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United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Ass'n - 166 U.S. 290 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Ass'n, 166 U.S. 290 (1897) United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association No. 67 Argued December 8, 9, 1896 Decided March 22, 1897 166 U.S. 290 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The dissolution of the freight association does not prevent this Court from taking cognizance of the appeal and deciding the case on its merits, as, where parties have entered into an illegal agreement and are acting under it, and there is no adequate remedy at law, and the jurisdiction of the court has attached by the filing of a bill to restrain such or like action under a similar agreement, and a trial has been had and judgment entered, the appellate jurisdiction of this Court is not ousted by a simple dissolution of the association, effected subsequently to the entry of judgment in the suit. While the statutory amount must, as...
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In re Chapman - 166 U.S. 661 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661 (1897) In re Chapman No. 11, Original Argued March 24, 1897 Decided April 19, 1897 166 U.S. 661 ORIGINAL Syllabus The legislation contained in 102 and 104 of the Revised Statutes was originally enacted "more effectually to enforce the attendance of witnesses on the summons of either House of Congress, and to compel them to discover testimony," and, when reasonably construed, is not open to the objection that it conflicts with the provisions of the Constitution. Statutes should receive a sensible construction such as will effectuate tile legislative intention and avoid, if possible, an unjust or absurd conclusion. Runkle v. United States, 122 U. S. 543 , again questioned, as it has not been approved in subsequent decisions. Congress possesses the constitutional power to enact a statute to enforce the attendance of witnesses, and to compel them to make disclosure of evidence to enable the ...
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Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Sanders - 166 U.S. 620 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Sanders, 166 U.S. 620 (1897) Northern Pacific Railroad Company v. Sanders No. 12 Argued March 12, 1897 Decided April 19, 1897 166 U.S. 620 ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Lands were expressly excepted from the grant made in 1864 for the benefit of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which were not free from preemption "or other claims or rights" at the time the line of the road was definitely fixed and a plat thereof filed in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The general route of the railroad was fixed February 21, 1872, and its line of definite location on the 6th of July, 1882. After the company filed a map of general route, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, under the directions of the Secretary of the Interior, April 22, 1872, transmitted a diagram of that route to the register and receiver of the land office a...
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City Railway Co. v. Citizens' Street R. Co. - 166 U.S. 557 (1897) U.S. Supreme Court City Railway Co. v. Citizens' Street R. Co., 166 U.S. 557 (1897) City Railway Company v. Citizens' Street Railroad Company No. 214 Argued March 16-17, 1897 Decided April 19, 1897 166 U.S. 557 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF INDIANA Syllabus The Citizens' Street Railway Company of Indianapolis was organized is 1864 under an act of the Legislature of Indiana of 1861 authorizing such a company to be " a body politic and corporation in perpetuity." January 18, 1864, the common council of that city passed an ordinance authorizing the company to lay tracks upon designated streets, and providing that "the right to operate said railway shall extend to the full time of thirty years," during which time the city authorities were not to extend to other companies privileges which would impair or destroy the rights Page 166 U. S. 558 so granted. In April, 1880, th...
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