Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-25-1898
Galveston, H. & S.A. Ry. Co. v. Texas - 170 U.S. 226 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Galveston, H. & S.A. Ry. Co. v. Texas, 170 U.S. 226 (1898) Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway Company v. Texas No. 421 Argued January 21, 24, 1898 Decided April 25, 1898 170 U.S. 226 ERROR TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH SUPREME JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF TEXAS Syllabus When it does not appear from the plaintiff's statement of his case that the suit was one arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, a petition to remove the cause into the Circuit Court of the United States should be overruled. The provision in the Constitution of Texas of 1869 that the legislature should not thereafter grant lands to any person or persons, as enforced against the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway Company, the successor of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway Company, which had received grants of public land under previous legislation to enco...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-09-1898
Stuart v. Easton - 170 U.S. 383 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Stuart v. Easton, 170 U.S. 383 (1892) Stuart v. Easton No. 197 Argued April 12-13, 1898 Decided May 9, 1898 170 U.S. 383 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT Syllabus The construction and legal effect of a patent for land is matter for the court, and evidence to aid in that construction is incompetent. The clear intent of the Act of the Province of Pennsylvania of March 11, 1752, authorizing trustees to acquire the land in question, was that while the legal estate in fee in the land should be acquired by the trustees, the beneficial use or equitable estate was to be in the inhabitants of the county, and the provision following the authorization to acquire the land, "and thereon to erect and build a courthouse and prison," was Page 170 U. S. 384 no more than a direction to the trustees as to the use to be made of the land after it had been acquired. The language of the habendum that t...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Mar-21-1898
United States ex Rel. Bernardin v. Butterworth - 169 U.S. 600 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court United States ex Rel. Bernardin v. Butterworth, 169 U.S. 600 (1898) United States ex Rel. Bernardin v. Butterworth No. 403 Submitted February 21, 1898 Decided March 21, 1898 169 U.S. 600 ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus A suit to compel the Commissioner of Patents to issue a patent abates by the death of the Commissioner, and cannot be revived so as to bring in his successor, although the latter gives his consent. The Act of Maryland of 1785, c. 80, is not applicable to such a case. Page 169 U. S. 601 This was a motion to substitute Mr. Duell, Commissioner of Patents as defendant in the place of Mr. Butterworth, Commissioner, deceased. The case is stated in the opinion. MR. JUSTICE SHIRAS delivered the opinion of the Court. On March 23, 1895, John S. Seymour, Commissioner of Patents, on appeal in an interference proceeding between the applications o...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-11-1898
New York Indians v. United States - 170 U.S. 1 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court New York Indians v. United States, 170 U.S. 1 (1898) New York Indians v. United States No. 106 Argued March 2-3, 1898 Decided April 11, 1898 170 U.S. 1 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS Syllabus The provision in the Treaty of June 15, 1838, with the New York Indians, that the United States will set apart as a permanent home for them the tract therein described in what afterwards became the State of Kansas, was intended to invest a present legal title thereto in the Indians, which title has not been forfeited and has not been reinvested in the United States, and the Indians are not estopped from claiming the benefit of such reservation. It appears by the records of the proceedings of the Senate that several amendments were there made to said treaty, including a new article; that the ratification was made subject to a proviso, the text of which is stated in the opinion of the Court, and that in the officia...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-02-1898
Shaw v. Kellogg - 170 U.S. 312 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Shaw v. Kellogg, 170 U.S. 312 (1898) Shaw v. Kellogg No. 154 Submitted February 28, 1898 Decided May 2, 1898 170 U.S. 312 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus In 1860, Congress granted a quantity of land in New Mexico in fulfillment of a grant of nonmineral lands made by Mexico before its transfer, the land to be selected by the grantees and the Surveyor General to survey and locate the land selected, and thus determine whether it was such as the grantees might select. The grantees made their selection, and after considerable correspondence as to the forms of the application and as to the evidence that the selected lands were not mineral lands, the Surveyor General, under the direction of the Land Department, approved the selection, and made the survey and location. The Land Department approved the survey, field notes and plat, and the parties were notified thereof, but no patent ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-09-1898
Westinghouse v. Boyden Power Brake Co. - 170 U.S. 537 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Westinghouse v. Boyden Power Brake Co., 170 U.S. 537 (1898) Westinghouse v. Boyden Power Brake Company Nos. 116, 99 Argued March 10-11, 1898 Decided May 9, 1898 170 U.S. 537 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Boyden device for a fluid-pressure break is not an infringement of patent No. 360,070 issued to George Westinghouse, Jr., March 29, 1887, for a fluid-pressure automatic-brake mechanism. This was a writ of certiorari to review a decree of the circuit court of appeals reversing a decree of the Circuit Court for the District of Maryland, which had sustained in part a bill filed by Westinghouse against the Boyden Power-Brake Company for the infringement of patent No. 360,070, and from which decree both parties had taken an appeal to the circuit court of appeals. The patent in suit, which was issued March 29, 1887, to George Westinghouse, Jr., is for...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-31-1898
Pullman's Palace Car Co. v. Central Transp. Co. - 171 U.S. 138 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Pullman's Palace Car Co. v. Central Transp. Co., 171 U.S. 138 (1898) Pullman's Palace Car Company v. Central Transportation Company No. 141 Argued March 24-25, 1898 Decided May 31, 1898 171 U.S. 138 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND ALSO CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT Syllabus By taking an appeal to the circuit court of appeals, the Pullman Company did not, under the peculiar circumstances of this case, waive its right to appeal to this Court, and the case being now before this Court either on appeal or by the writ of certiorari, it has jurisdiction. In order to authorize a denial of a plaintiffs motion to discontinue a suit in equity, there must be some plain legal prejudice to the defendant, other than the mere prospect of future litigation, rendered possible by the discontinuance. U...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-25-1898
Houston & Texas Cent. Ry. Co. v. Texas - 170 U.S. 243 (1898) U.S. Supreme Court Houston & Texas Cent. Ry. Co. v. Texas, 170 U.S. 243 (1898) Houston and Texas Central Railway Company v. Texas No. 406 Argued January 24-25, 1898 Decided April 25, 1898 170 U.S. 243 ERROR TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS FOR THE SECOND SUPREME JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF TEXAS Syllabus In Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Co. v. Texas, ante, 170 U. S. 226 , the grants of land repealed by the operation of Section 6 of Article X of the Constitution of Texas of 1869 were grants to aid in the construction of lines of railway not authorized until after that provision took effect, whereas in this case, the grants which are claimed to be affected by it were grants made prior to the adoption of that constitution for the purpose of aiding in the construction of the road from Brenham to Austin. Held that that constitutional provision, as thus enforced, impairs the obligation of the contr...
Tag this Judgment!