Court : US Supreme Court
United States v. Terminal R. Ass'n - 236 U.S. 194 (1915) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Terminal R. Ass'n, 236 U.S. 194 (1915) United States v. Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis Nos. 452, 572, Original Argued October 20, 1914 Petition submitted October 13, 1914 Decided February 23, 1915 236 U.S. 194 APPEALS FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI. PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE Syllabus Even though persons seeking to intervene on the settlement of a decree were not parties, and therefore cannot intervene in the court below, they may be entitled to be heard in this Court concerning the decree insofar as it may operate prejudicially to their rights. Where both parties have appealed, one from the decree entered on the mandate of this Court and the other from denial of a motion to Page 236 U. S. 195 modify such decree, as the whole decree is before this Court, the dismissal of the latter appeal would not limit its pow...
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Wright v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co. - 236 U.S. 674 (1915) U.S. Supreme Court Wright v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 236 U.S. 674 (1915) Wright v. Central of Georgia Railway Company No. 161 Argued January 28, 29, 1915 Decided March 22, 1915 236 U.S. 674 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA Syllabus This Court will not presume that a state legislature in granting a charter containing exemptions would either practice deceit or make a futile grant. A lessee of railroads which were built under special charters containing irrepealable contracts by which the property was not subject to be taxed higher than a specified percent on the annual income derived therefrom is not subject to an ad valorem tax as the owner of such property. The statutes of Georgia in regard to the taxation of railroads involved in this action are construed as making the fee exempt from other taxation than that provided for in favor of the lessee as well...
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Stevirmac Oil & Gas Co. v. Dittman - 245 U.S. 210 (1917) U.S. Supreme Court Stevirmac Oil & Gas Co. v. Dittman, 245 U.S. 210 (1917) Stevirmac Oil & Gas Company v. Dittman No. 131 Submitted October 22, 1917 Decided December 10, 1917 245 U.S. 210 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA Syllabus A party against whom a default judgment had been rendered in the district court eighteen months previously applied there to have it set aside for lack of personal jurisdiction, alleging that there was no service and that the return of service upon which the default was based was unauthorized and false. After hearing the application and affidavits, the court sustained its jurisdiction to enter the judgment and overruled the application. Held that the proceeding to set aside the judgment amounted to an independent action, and that the question of jurisdiction, as it related only to the power of the court in the original action, could not be...
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MacMath v. MacMath - 248 U.S. 151 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court MacMath v. MacMath, 248 U.S. 151 (1918) MacMath v. MacMath No. 79 Argued November 22, 1918 Decided December 9, 1918 248 U.S. 151 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS Syllabus Revised Statutes 2621 authorizes collectors to employ, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, weighers at the several ports, and does not prescribe their number; the Act of July 26, 1866, c. 269, 3, 14 Stat. 289, fixes their salaries at $2,500; Rev.Stats. 2634 authorizes the Secretary to fix the number and compensation of clerks to be employed by any collector. M received successive appointments as clerk "to act as acting U.S. weigher" at compensations less than $2,500 per annum, and took oath as such. Held that the fact that he was assigned, and performed, the duties of weigher did not place him in that office and entitle him to it salary. 51 Ct.Clms. 36 affirmed. The case is stated in the opinion. Page 248 U. S. 152 MR. JUSTI...
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Southern Pacific Co. v. Bogert - 250 U.S. 483 (1919) U.S. Supreme Court Southern Pacific Co. v. Bogert, 250 U.S. 483 (1919) Southern Pacific Co. v. Bogert No. 305 Argued April 17, 21, 1919 Decided June 9, 1919 250 U.S. 483 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT Syllabus To constitute laches, it is essential that there be acquiescence in the alleged wrong or lack of diligence in seeking a remedy, in addition to lapse of time. P. 250 U. S. 488 . Page 250 U. S. 484 So held where there was a delay of over 22 years upon the part of minority shareholders in seeking to affix a trust on shares in a new corporation held by the majority, but, in the interval, the plaintiffs, or others representing the minority as a class, had been diligent in attacking the foreclosure and reorganization proceedings through which such shares were acquired. When the cause of action is such that suit may be brought on behalf of the plaintiff and all persons similarly si...
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Hamilton v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co. - 251 U.S. 146 (1919) U.S. Supreme Court Hamilton v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co., 251 U.S. 146 (1919) Hamilton v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Company No. 589, 602 Argued November 20, 1919 Decided December 16, 1919 251 U.S. 146 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY Syllabus The power to prohibit the liquor traffic as a means of increasing war efficiency is part of the war power of Congress, and its exercise without providing for compensation is no more limited by the Fifth Amendment than a like exercise of a state's police power would be limited by the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 251 U. S. 164 . The War-Time Prohibition Act, approved ten days after the armistice with Germany was signed, Act of November 21, 1918, c. 212, 40 Stat. 1046, provided: "That after June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, until the conclusion of the present war and thereafter un...
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United States v. Reading Co. - 253 U.S. 26 (1920) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Reading Co., 253 U.S. 26 (1920) United States v. Reading Company No. 3, 4 Argued October 10, 11, 1916 Restored to docket for reargument May 21, 1917 Reargued November 20, 21, 1917 Restored to docket for reargument June 10, 1918 Reargued October 7, 1919 Decided April 26, 1920 253 U.S. 26 APPEALS FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus Regardless of the use made of it, a power resulting not from normal expansion and legitimate business enterprise, but from deliberate calculated purchase for control which enables a holding company to dominate two great competing interstate railroad carriers and two great competing coal companies, engaged extensively in mining and selling anthracite coal that must be transported to interstate markets over those railroads, is a menace to and an undue restraint upon interstate commerce within the meaning...
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Nicholas v. United States - 257 U.S. 71 (1921) U.S. Supreme Court Nicholas v. United States, 257 U.S. 71 (1921) Nicholas v. United States No. 10 Argued October 6, 1921 Decided November 7, 1921 257 U.S. 71 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS Syllabus 1. A person who has been removed from a place in the classified civil service, by the proper authority but without charges or opportunity to answer, in violation of 6 of the Act of August 24, 1912, c. 389, 37 Stat. 555, cannot recover subsequent salary attached to the position if he has not been diligent in asserting his rights. P. 257 U. S. 75 . United States v. Wickersham, 201 U. S. 390 , distinguished. 2. After summary removal, without charges, from the office of Inspector of Customs, claimant did nothing for his vindication for three years, when he sued for the salary since accrued. Held that he had abandoned his title, and could not recover. P. 257 U. S. 76 . 53 Ct. Clms. 463; 55 id. 188, affirmed. Appeal from a j...
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United States v. Phellis - 257 U.S. 156 (1921) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Phellis, 257 U.S. 156 (1921) United States v. Phellis No. 260 Argued October 11, 1921 Decided November 21, 1921 257 U.S. 156 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS Syllabus 1. Substance, and not form, should control in the application of the Sixteenth Amendment and the income tax laws enacted under it. P. 257 U. S. 168 . 2. The Income Tax Law of October 3, 1913, in declaring that the tax shall be laid on gains, profits, and income derived from dividends, means not that everything in the form of a dividend must be treated as income, but that income derived in the way of dividends shall be taxed. P. 257 U. S. 168 . 3. Income defined (p. 257 U. S. 169 ) as in Eisner v. Macomber, 252 U. S. 189 . 4. With the concurrence of 90% of the stockholders of a corporation, a plan of reorganization was effected, pursuant to which a new corporation with an authorized capital stock nearly four times as gr...
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Rockefeller v. United States - 257 U.S. 176 (1921) U.S. Supreme Court Rockefeller v. United States, 257 U.S. 176 (1921) Rockefeller v. United States Nos. 535, 536 Argued October 11, 12, 1921 Decided November 21, 1921 257 U.S. 176 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Syllabus 1. Where the stockholders of a corporation, which is engaged in producing, buying, and selling crude petroleum and in transporting it through its pipelines, form a new corporation to which the pipeline property is conveyed by the old corporation and in consideration therefor and as part of the transaction all the capital stock of the new corporation, of par value equal to the valuation of the property so conveyed, is distributed among such stockholders pro rata, either by being issued to them directly or by being first Page 257 U. S. 177 issued to the old corporation and then so distributed, and the old company possesses such a surplus that the trans...
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