Court : US Supreme Court
United States v. Delespine - 40 U.S. 319 (1841) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Delespine, 40 U.S. 319 (1841) United States v. Delespine 40 U.S. 319 APPEAL FROM THE SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Page 40 U. S. 320 In November 1830, Joseph Delespine presented a petition to the Superior Court of East Florida asking for the confirmation of a grant by the Spanish government of Florida of a tract of land on Rio Neuvo of two leagues to each point of the compass, to contain 92,160 acres. The claim of the petitioner was founded on an alleged grant to Juan Xavier de Arrambide, a Spanish subject, by the Captain General of the Island of Cuba on 15 November, 1813, which was confirmed by the Governor and Corporation of East Florida 22 March, 1814. The petition alleged, as the reason the claim was not before presented for confirmation, there was no person, during a great portion of the time, as the district attorney of the United States, on whom process could be se...
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Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company - 50 U.S. 647 (1850) U.S. Supreme Court Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company, 50 U.S. 9 How. 647 647 (1850) Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company 50 U.S. (9 How.) 647 ORIGINAL Syllabus In a cause depending in this Court in the exercise of original jurisdiction, wherein the State of Pennsylvania complained of the erection of a bridge across the Ohio River at Wheeling, the cause was referred to a commissioner for the purpose of taking further proof, with instructions to report to the Court by the first day of the next stated term. This case was transferred to this Court by an order of MR. JUSTICE GRIER, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, under the following circumstances. On 16 August, 1849, at the courtroom of the Circuit Court of the United States in the City of Philadelphia, before MR. JUSTICE GRIER, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. S...
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Lord v. Veazie - 49 U.S. 251 (1850) U.S. Supreme Court Lord v. Veazie, 49 U.S. 8 How. 251 251 (1850) Lord v. Veazie 49 U.S. (8 How.) 251 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE Syllabus Where it appears to this Court from affidavits and other evidence filed by persons not parties to a suit that there is no real dispute between the plaintiff and defendant in the suit, but, on the contrary, that their interest is one and the same and is adverse to the interests of the parties who filed the affidavits, the judgment of the circuit court entered pro forma is a nullity and void, and no writ of error will lie upon it. It must therefore, be dismissed. A motion was made by Mr. Moor, upon his own account and also as counsel for the City Bank, at Boston, to dismiss the appeal, upon the ground that it was a fictitious case, got up between said parties for the purpose of settling legal questions upon which he, the said Moor and the City Bank, had a larg...
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United States v. Hodge - 54 U.S. 478 (1851) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Hodge, 54 U.S. 13 How. 478 478 (1851) United States v. Hodge 54 U.S. (13 How.) 478 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA Syllabus In a suit upon a postmaster's bond, when Treasury transcripts are offered in evidence, it is not necessary that they should contain the statements of credits claimed by the postmaster, and disallowed, in whole or in part, by the officers of the government. Nor is it a reason for rejecting the transcripts as evidence that the items charged in the accounts as balances of quarterly returns did not purport, on the face of said accounts, to be balances acknowledged by the postmaster, nor were supported by proper vouchers, but merely purported to be the balances of said quarterly returns as audited and adjusted by the officers of the government. The objection applied, if at all, to the accuracy of the accounts, and not to their ...
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Ex Parte Fleming - 69 U.S. 759 (1864) U.S. Supreme Court Ex Parte Fleming, 69 U.S. 2 Wall. 759 759 (1864) Ex Parte Fleming 69 U.S. (2 Wall.) 759 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WISCONSIN DISTRICT Syllabus A party asking this Court for a mandamus to an inferior court to make a rule on one of its ministerial officers, as the marshal, must show clearly his interest in the matter which he presents as the ground of his application. The La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company, a railroad company of Wisconsin, had mortgaged its road and other property to secure certain negotiable bonds which it had issued. The bonds not being paid, a bill of foreclosure was filed in the District Court of the United States for the Wisconsin district, the only federal court then in that state, and which court had at that time circuit court powers. The railroad &c.;, was sold by the marshal, who reported his sale to the district court. The sale was confirmed by that court and ...
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Georgia v. Stanton - 73 U.S. 50 (1867) U.S. Supreme Court Georgia v. Stanton, 73 U.S. 6 Wall. 50 50 (1867) Georgia v. Stanton 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 50 ORIGINAL Syllabus 1. A bill in equity filed by one of the United States to enjoin the Secretary of War and other officers who represent the Executive authority of the United States from carrying into execution certain acts of Congress on the ground that such execution would annul and totally abolish the existing state government of the state and establish another and different one in its place -- in other words, would overthrow and destroy the corporate existence of the state by depriving it of all the means and instrumentalities whereby its existence might and otherwise would be maintained -- calls for a judgment upon a political question, and will therefore not be entertained by this Court. 2. This character of the bill is not changed by the fact that in setting forth the political rights sought to be protected, the bill avers tha...
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Texas v. White - 74 U.S. 700 (1868) U.S. Supreme Court Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 7 Wall. 700 700 (1868) Texas v. White 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 700 ON ORIGINAL BILL Syllabus 1. The word "State" describes sometimes a people or community of individuals united more or less closely in political relations, inhabiting temporarily or permanently the same country; often it denotes only the country, or territorial region, inhabited by such a community; not unfrequently, it is applied to the government under which the people live; at other times, it represents the combined idea of people, territory, and government. 2. In the Constitution, the term "State" most frequently expresses the combined idea, just noticed, of people, territory, and government. A State, in the ordinary sense of the Constitution, is a political community of free citizens, occupying a territory of defined boundaries and organised under a government sanctioned and limited by a written constitution, and established by the cons...
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French v. Shoemaker - 79 U.S. 86 (1870) U.S. Supreme Court French v. Shoemaker, 79 U.S. 12 Wall. 86 86 (1870) French v. Shoemaker 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 86 MOTIONS FOR DECREE OF CIRCUIT COURT OF UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Syllabus 1. Where the whole law of a case before a circuit court is settled by a decree, and nothing remains to be done unless a new application shall be made at the foot of the decree, the decree is a final one so far as respects a right of appeal. 2. Where there is nothing on the record to show to the court that the indemnity given by an appeal bond is insufficient, the presumption is that it is sufficient. 3. Where a party is perpetually enjoined and restrained by a decree of a circuit court from any proceeding whatever not in accordance with certain contracts which a complainant had applied to that court to make him, by injunction, observe, that court -- though an appeal here has been taken within ten days and an appeal bond with sufficient ...
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Insurance Company v. Dunham - 78 U.S. 1 (1870) U.S. Supreme Court Insurance Company v. Dunham, 78 U.S. 11 Wall. 1 1 (1870) Insurance Company v. Dunham 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 1 ON CERTIFICATE OF DIVISION IN OPINION BETWEEN THE JUDGES OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS Syllabus 1. The admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States is not limited by the statutes or judicial prohibitions of England. First. The locus, or territory, of maritime jurisdiction where torts must be committed and where business must be transacted in order to be maritime in their character extends not only to the main sea, but to all the navigable waters of the United States or bordering on the same, whether land-locked or open, salt or fresh, tide or no tide. Secondly. As to contracts, the true criterion whether they are within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction is their nature and subject matter, as whether they are maritime contracts, having reference to maritime ser...
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French v. Shoemaker - 81 U.S. 314 (1871) U.S. Supreme Court French v. Shoemaker, 81 U.S. 14 Wall. 314 314 (1871) French v. Shoemaker 81 U.S. (14 Wall.) 314 APPEAL FROM A DECREE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Syllabus 1. A., B., C., and D., having a dispute about their rights in a railroad company, entered into a contract of settlement, by which they divided the stock in certain proportions among them. A. refused to carry out the contract. B. filed a bill to compel him to stand to his agreement. A., Page 81 U. S. 315 after answering, filed a cross-bill, insisting that B. ought to have made C. and D. parties to his original proceeding. Held that the bill, not seeking any relief against B. and C., it was not necessary that they should be parties. 2. Equity will not set aside a contract whose purpose is a settlement of disputes simply because one party to it was in want of money when he made it and because such want may have been an inducing cause for his m...
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