Court : US Supreme Court
Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias v. Smyth - 245 U.S. 594 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias v. Smyth, 245 U.S. 594 (1918) Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias v. Smyth No. 107 Argued January 2, 1918 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 594 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT The appellant had the right to increase the assessment upon the insurance certificate here concerned, and there was jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, the case involving a construction of a federal charter. The case is ruled on both points by Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias v. Mims, 241 U. S. 574 . See also Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Hill, 237 U. S. 208 . 220 F. 138 reversed. Page 245 U. S. 595 The case is stated in the opinion. MR. JUSTICE CLARKE delivered the opinion of the Court. We shall designate the parties as they were in the trial court, the plaintiff in error as defendant and the defendant in error as plaintiff. This is a suit to enjoi...
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Johnson v. Lankford - 245 U.S. 541 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Johnson v. Lankford, 245 U.S. 541 (1918) Johnson v. Lankford No. 96 Submitted December 18, 1917 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 541 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA Syllabus An action against the Bank Commissioner of Oklahoma personally and his surety to recover damages for the loss of plaintiff's bank deposit, alleged to have been due to the Commissioner's failure to safeguard the business and assets of the bank, and his arbitrary, capricious, and discriminating refusal to pay the claim or allow it as valid against the State Guaranty Fund, all in continuous, negligent, or willful disregard of his duties under the state law, held not an action against the state, but within the jurisdiction of the district court, there being diversity of citizenship. Lankford v. Platte Iron Works Co., 235 U. S. 461 , distinguished. Allegations to the effect that the enfor...
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Martin v. Lankford - 245 U.S. 547 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Martin v. Lankford, 245 U.S. 547 (1918) Martin v. Lankford No. 97 Submitted December 18, 1917 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 547 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA Syllabus This action was similar to Johnson v. Lankford, ante, 245 U. S. 541 . Here, however, plaintiff sought damages measured by the excess of his claims as depositor over his liability as a stockholder of the bank, and there was not diverse citizenship. Held, (1) that the action was not against the state but against the defendant Bank Commissioner personally (and his surety) because of his alleged tortious conduct in violating the state law, and (2) that allegations to the effect that, by the Commissioner's wrongful administration of the state law, plaintiff's privileges and immunities were abridged and his property taken without due process, in violation of the Constitution, were to be taken ...
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Greer v. United States - 245 U.S. 559 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Greer v. United States, 245 U.S. 559 (1918) Greer v. United States No. 504 Argued January 18, 1918 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 559 CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus There is no presumption in a criminal case that the accused is of good character. A presumption upon a matter of fact, when it is not merely a disguise for another principle, means that common experience shows the fact to be so generally true that courts may notice the truth. The district court in a criminal trial is not bound by the rules of evidence as they stood in 1789. Rosen v. United States, ante, 245 U. S. 467 . 240 F. 320 affirmed. The case is stated in the opinion. MR. JUSTICE HOLMES delivered the opinion of the court. The petitioner was tried for introducing whiskey from without the state into that part of Oklahoma that formerly was within the Indian Territory. He was convicted and se...
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United States v. Sweet - 245 U.S. 563 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Sweet, 245 U.S. 563 (1918) United States v. Sweet No. 99 Argued December 19, 1917 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 563 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Section 6 of the Utah Enabling Act of July 16, 1894, c. 138, 28 Stat. 107, purports to grant to the state upon her admission sections 2, 16, 32 and 36 in every township, reserving lands embraced in permanent reservations, etc., but making no mention of mineral lands. Section 10 provides that land granted by the act for educational purposes "shall not be subject to preemption, homestead entry, or any other entry under the land laws of the United States, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, but shall be surveyed for school purposes only." Held that the school section grant was not intended to embrace land known to be valuable for coal. It is the settled policy of Congress to dispose of mineral lands only und...
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Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co. v. Ohio - 245 U.S. 574 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co. v. Ohio, 245 U.S. 574 (1918) Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company v. Ohio No. 60 Argued October 18, 19, 1917 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 574 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OHIO Syllabus Where there are no controlling provisions in state constitution or statutes and no prior adjudication by its courts to the contrary, a franchise for an interurban electric railway, granted by the proper state Page 245 U. S. 575 authority without limit as to duration, and in the absence of circumstances showing an intention to give or accept a mere revocable right, is a contract not subject to annulment at the will of the granting authority. Under the Constitution and statutes of Ohio in 1892, county Commissioners had power to grant franchises over public roads valid for twenty-five years, if not perpetually. A resolution of county commissioners purpor...
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United States v. Woo Jan - 245 U.S. 552 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Woo Jan, 245 U.S. 552 (1918) United States v. Woo Jan No. 586 Argued January 17, 1918 Decided January 28, 1918 245 U.S. 552 CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Section 21 of the Immigration Act of February 20, 1907, c. 1134, 34 Stat. 898, empowers the Secretary of Labor, when satisfied that an alien has been found in the United States in violation of that act, or is subject to deportation under the provisions of that act or of any law of the United States, to cause such alien within the period of three years, etc., to be taken into custody and returned to the country whence he came; 43, however, provides that the act shall not be construed to repeal, alter, or amend existing laws relating to the immigration or exclusion of Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent. Held that 43 preserves the judicial proceedings prescribed by the Chinese Exclus...
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Southern Pacific Co. v. Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Co. - 245 U.S. 531 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Southern Pacific Co. v. Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Co., 245 U.S. 531 (1918) Southern Pacific Co. v. Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Company No. 132 Argued January 8, 9, 1918 Decided January 21, 1918 245 U.S. 531 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The fact that one who paid unreasonable freight charges has shifted the burden by collecting from purchasers of the goods does not prevent him from recovering the overpayments from the carrier under an order of reparation made by the Interstate Commerce Commission. He is the proximate loser; his cause of action accrues immediately, without waiting for later events; the purchaser, lacking privity, cannot recover the illegal profits from the carrier; and, practically, to follow each transaction to its ultimate result would be endless and futile. Cases like Pennsylvania R. Co. v. International Coal Mining Co., 230 U. S. 1...
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Union Pacific R. Co. v. Huxoll - 245 U.S. 535 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Union Pacific R. Co. v. Huxoll, 245 U.S. 535 (1918) Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Huxoll No. 104 Argued December 21, 1917 Decided January 21, 1918 245 U.S. 535 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA Syllabus The question whether any substantial evidence was introduced to justify submission of a case to the jury on the issue of proximate causal negligence is one of law, reviewable by this Court in an action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, coming from a state court. A railroad employee was run down and killed in a switching yard by a switching engine, backing on a track, between the rails of which he was walking in the opposite direction. He was passing through an extensive cloud of steam and smoke coming from a roundhouse and nearby engines, which had settled upon the tracks on a very cold and windy day. The cloud was dense but shifting, so that at times one might see throug...
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Bates v. Bodie - 245 U.S. 520 (1918) U.S. Supreme Court Bates v. Bodie, 245 U.S. 520 (1918) Bates v. Bodie No. 120 Argued January 4, 1918 Decided January 21, 1918 245 U.S. 520 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA Syllabus When a case is here upon the ground that the court below denied full faith and credit to a decree of a court of another state, a motion to dismiss the writ of error based on the proposition that the decree was accorded its due value under the statutes of the its rendition merely begs the question in issue, and must be denied. The principles of estoppel by judgment are reviewed in the opinion and held to apply ( semble with peculiar reason) to decrees for divorce and alimony. In a court of Arkansas, a wife, by her cross-bill, sought absolute divorce, return of money lent her husband, and alimony "as the facts and law warrant, and all other proper and necessary relief," alleging that her husband owned certain real and personal property, in...
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