Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Lessee of Pollard's Heirs v. Kibbe - 39 U.S. 353 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Lessee of Pollard's Heirs v. Kibbe, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 353 353 (1840) Lessee of Pollard's Heirs v. Kibbe * 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 353 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA Syllabus Action of ejectment in the state court of Alabama for a lot of ground in the City of Mobile. The plaintiff claimed the title to the lot under an act of Congress, and the decision of the state court was against the right and title so set up and claimed. A writ of error was prosecuted to the Supreme Court of Alabama. It was held that this case was embraced by the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which gives this Court jurisdiction to revise the judgment of the state court in such cases. The act of Congress under which title was claimed being a private act and for the benefit of the City of Mobile and certain individuals, it is fair to presume it was passed with reference to the particular claims of indi...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Philadelphia & Trenton R. Co. v. Stimpson - 39 U.S. 448 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Philadelphia & Trenton R. Co. v. Stimpson, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 448 448 (1840) Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad Company v. Stimpson 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 448 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus Action for the violation of a patent right, granted to the patentee for "a new and useful improvement in turning short curves on railroads." On 26 September, 1835, a second patent was granted, the original patent, granted in 1831, having been surrendered and cancelled on account of a defective specification, the second patent being for fourteen years from the date of the original patent. The second patent was in the precise form of the original, except the recital of the fact that the former patent was cancelled "on account of a defective specification" and the statement of the time the second patent was to begin to run. It was objected that ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Games v. Stiles - 39 U.S. 322 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Games v. Stiles, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 322 322 (1840) Games v. Stiles 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 322 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF OHIO Syllabus A deed was executed in Glasgow, Scotland, by which land in Ohio, which had been patented to David Buchanan by the United States, was conveyed to Walter Sterling. The deed recited that it was made in pursuance of a decree of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Virginia. No exemplification of the decree was offered in evidence in support of the deed. The court held that as Buchanan was the patentee of the land, although he made the deed in pursuance of the decree of the Circuit Court of Virginia, the decree could add nothing to the validity of the conveyance, and therefore it was wholly unnecessary to prove the decree. The deed was good without the decree. The possession of a deed, regularly executed, is prima facie evidence of its d...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Rhode Island v. Massachusetts - 39 U.S. 210 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 210 210 (1840) Rhode Island v. Massachusetts * 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 210 ORIGINAL Syllabus By a rule of the Supreme Court, the practice of the English courts of chancery is the practice in the courts of equity of the United States. In England, the party who puts in a plea which is the subject of discussion has the right to begin and conclude the argument. The same rule should prevail in the courts of the United States in chancery cases. In a case in which two sovereign states of the United States are litigating a question of boundary between them in the Supreme Court of the United States, the Court has decided that the rules and practice of the court of chancery should substantially govern in conducting the suit to a final issue. 37 U. S. 12 Pet. 735-739. The Court, on reexamining the subject, is fully satisfied with the decision. In a controversy where two sove...
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Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Walden v. Bodley - 39 U.S. 156 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Walden v. Bodley, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 156 156 (1840) Walden v. Bodley 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 156 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY Syllabus There are cases in chancery where amendments are permitted at any stage or progress of the cause, as where an essential party has been omitted, but amendments which change the character of the bill or answer so as to make substantially a new case should rarely if ever be admitted after the cause has been set for hearing, much less after it has been heard. A decree dismissing a bill in chancery generally may be set up in bar of a second bill, but where the bill has been dismissed on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction, which shows that the merits were not heard, the dismission is not a bar to a second bill. Where parties by agreement dispense with the usual formalities and no injustice results from the mode adopted, the court should not...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Lessee of Brewer v. Blougher - 39 U.S. 178 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Lessee of Brewer v. Blougher, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 178 178 (1840) Lessee of Brewer v. Blougher 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 178 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND Syllabus Construction of the Act of the Legislature of Maryland passed December session, 1825, entitled, "An act relating to Illegitimate Children," which provides that "the illegitimate child or children of any female, and the issue of any such child or children," are declared capable in law "to take and inherit both real and personal estate from their mother and from each other, and from the descendants of each other, as the case may be, in like manner as if born in lawful wedlock." J.S., who had several children who were the children of an incestuous connection, conveyed a tract of land in the State of Maryland to one of those children. The grantee died intestate and without issue, seized in fee of the land. Two brothe...
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Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Latimer v. Poteet - 39 U.S. 4 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Latimer v. Poteet, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 4 4 (1840) Latimer v. Poteet 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 4 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA Syllabus Ejectment for forty-nine thousand acres of land in the State of North Carolina, claimed by the plaintiffs under a grant from the state dated 20 July, 1796, to William Cathcart, founded on entries made in the office of the entry taker in the County of Buncombe in the State of North Carolina, made after 3 February, 1795, within the limits of the county. The land lay wholly within the limits of the territory specially described and set forth in the fifth section of the act of 1783, entitled an act for opening the land office of the State of North Carolina. The claim of the plaintiffs in the ejectment was resisted on the ground that the grant under which the plaintiffs claimed was, at the time of its emanation, wholly within the territory allotted to th...
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Decided on : Jan-01-1840
United States v. Wiggins - 39 U.S. 334 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Wiggins, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 334 334 (1840) United States v. Wiggins 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 334 APPEAL FROM THE SUPERIOR COURT OF EAST FLORIDA Syllabus A grant of land by Estrada, the Governor of East Florida, was made on 1 August, 1815, to Elizabeth Wiggins on her petition stating, that "owing to the diminution of trade, she will have to devote herself to the pursuits of the country." The grant was made for the quantity of land apportioned by the regulations of East Florida to the number of the family of the grantee. It was regularly surveyed by the surveyor general according to the petition and grant. No settlement or improvement was ever made by the grantee or by anyone acting for her on the property. In 1831, Elizabeth Wiggins presented a petition to the Superior Court of East Florida praying for a confirmation of the grant, and in July, 1838, the court gave a decree in favor of the claimant. On an ap...
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Decided on : Jan-01-1840
Runyan v. Lessee of Coster - 39 U.S. 122 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Runyan v. Lessee of Coster, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 122 122 (1840) Runyan v. Lessee of Coster 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 122 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus The Legislature of the State of New York, on 18 April, 1823, incorporated "The New York & Schuylkill Coal Company." The act of incorporation was granted for the purpose of supplying the City of New York and its vicinity with coal, and the company having, at great expense, secured by purchase valuable and extensive coal lands in Pennsylvania, the Legislature of New York, to promote the supply of coal as fuel, granted the incorporation with the usual powers of a body corporate, giving to it the powers to purchase and hold lands to promote and attain the objects of the incorporation. The recitals in the act of incorporation show that this power was granted with special reference to the purchase of lands in the S...
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