Branson v. Studabaker

• Decision Date: 20 December 1892
• Docket Number: 15,644
• Citation: 33 N.E. 98,133 Ind. 147
• Parties: Branson v. Studabaker
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

33 N.E. 98

133 Ind. 147

Branson v. Studabaker

No. 15,644

Supreme Court of Indiana

December 20, 1892

From the Randolph Circuit Court.

Judgment affirmed.

J. W Ryan, W. A. Thompson, A. O. Marsh and J. W. Thompson, for appellant.

J. W Newton, E. L. Watson and J. S. Engle, for appellee.

OPINION

Elliott, J.

A question of jurisdiction is in the record, and must be determined. The amount recovered in the court below was four hundred dollars, and there is no specific decree, so that, on the face of the judgment, it appears that there was a recovery of money only. Both parties contend that jurisdiction is in this court, and not in the Appellate Court, but the grounds upon which they assert that jurisdiction resides in this court are widely different. The agreement of the parties that this court has jurisdiction does not affect the question, for it is established law that consent can not confer jurisdiction of the subject matter. See authorities cited, Elliott's Appellate Procedure, sections 13, 418, 498. A court must look to the law for its jurisdiction of the subject, and must, notwithstanding the agreement of the parties, decline to entertain jurisdiction if it is not conferred by the law. We must, therefore, ascertain and determine whether this appeal is within the jurisdiction of this tribunal, or within that of the Appellate Court.

The Supreme Court is undoubtedly the highest judicial tribunal of the State, and takes its rank from the Constitution. As its rank is bestowed upon it by the Constitution, the Legislature can not lower that rank or deprive it of the authority incident to its position as the superior judicial tribunal of the State. Judicial power is an element of sovereignty which the people, the original fountain of all governmental power, have distributed to the courts. This distribution is made by the Constitution, and when tribunals are created pursuant to its provision, it vests the judicial power in them, for the Constitution, not statutes, vests judicial power. See authorities cited Elliott's Appellate Procedure, section 1. It is not in the power of the Legislature to make the Supreme Court inferior, in any respect, to any other tribunal; but in it remains secure from legislative attack, the highest judicial power distributed by the Constitution. There must be in every State a court capable of exercising ultimate judicial power, otherwise there would be unending conflict. In this State there is a court invested with ultimate judicial power, and that is the Supreme Court. See authorities cited Elliott's Appellate Procedure, sections 25, 26. If it were otherwise, there would be no organ of government capable of authoritatively and finally settling judicial questions; and that there must be such an organ, there can be no doubt, for the judicial department is an independent one, and the element of sovereignty delegated to that department, must, as in the case of the executive and legislative, reside, in its last and highest form, in one tribunal, one officer, or body of officers; but, while we are clear that no statute can deprive the Supreme Court of its rank as the highest and ultimate repository of judicial power, we are equally clear that appellate jurisdiction of an inferior grade may be conferred upon other appellate tribunals. The Legislature can not, under the guise of conferring inferior appellate jurisdiction upon other tribunals, grant them unlimited appellate jurisdiction; but it may grant such tribunals appellate jurisdiction by limiting it to classes of cases not of the highest grade, and restricting its authority to appeals from recoveries of a limited nature. We have no doubt that the statute creating the Appellate Court is valid, for the reason that it so limits the jurisdiction of that tribunal as to prevent it from equaling in authority the Supreme Court of the State.

The contention of the appellee's counsel that the act creating the Appellate Court is unconstitutional in so far as it regulates practice in the courts by providing for the transfer of cases from one docket to the other, because such a provision is special legislation upon a subject where general legislation is required by the Constitution, can not prevail. We freely grant that if the legislation is to be regarded as special, the conclusion of counsel would be correct, for the Constitution requires that the practice of the courts shall be regulated by general laws, but we are clear that the legislation can not be regarded as special. The statute makes a general classification of cases, and the classification is not in any sense such as justifies the conclusion that it singles out particular cases; so that the provisions of the Constitution requiring laws requiring the practice in the courts of the State to be general are not impinged or violated. We are referred by counsel to the case of the Madison, etc., R. R. Co. v. Whiteneck, 8 Ind. 217, wherein it was held that a statutory provision inflicting a penalty upon railroad companies, in case of a failure to reduce a judgment from which an appeal was prosecuted, was unconstitutional. Assuming that the doctrine of the case is sound, we deny that it governs the present question. The statute creating the Appellate Court does not apply to one class of litigants, as did the statute overthrown in the case cited; it applies to all litigants, and makes no attempt to classify by individuals or parties. The basis of the system of classification is the difference in classes of cases, and not in the situation of parties or persons. The statute is general and uniform, inasmuch as it makes a general classification, and operates uniformly upon all the classes included in the system adopted. Hancock v. Yaden, 121 Ind. 366, 23 N.E. 253; State v. Loomis, 46 Neb. L. J. 488. If the position of appellee's counsel is correct, it would be impossible to give one court jurisdiction of general classes of cases and another court jurisdiction of other classes; and the result would be that the Criminal Courts, Superior Courts, courts of justices of the peace, and the like, would be wholly illegal. Such a result, it is evident, was not for a moment contemplated by the framers of our Constitution.

The provisions of the statute creating the Appellate Court, and authorizing the transfer to that court of cases appealed to this court prior to its enactment, are valid. There is no vested right in a remedy or in a tribunal. Remedies and tribunals may be changed by substitution without impairing vested rights. It may be granted that a remedy can not be entirely swept away or rendered utterly ineffective by the destruction of a tribunal, but granting this will not authorize the conclusion that the substitution of the Appellate Court for the Supreme Court, in a class of cases falling within a limited jurisdiction, impairs a vested right, for the parties have still a remedy and still a competent tribunal to administer that remedy. There is no necessity for deciding how far the Legislature may go in destroying judicial tribunals, for here the Appellate Court is a legal tribunal in which all appeals over which it is given jurisdiction may be heard and determined; so that there is neither a complete destruction of a remedy, nor the utter annihilation of a tribunal for the administration of the remedy.

The provisions of the statute empowering the Appellate Court to transfer cases to the docket of this court, when ascertained to be within its jurisdiction, are valid; and so are the provisions of the statute empowering this court to transfer cases from its docket to that of the Appellate Court. It is true that the judgment or order of the Appellate Court can not conclude the higher court upon a question of its own jurisdiction, but this does not affect the validity of the general provisions concerning the transfer of cases. It is also true that the Legislature must define the jurisdiction of the Appellate Court, for that is a legislative power which can not be delegated. Where, however, the jurisdiction is defined by statute, the determination and designation of what cases fall within the respective jurisdiction of the two courts is purely a judicial act. As jurisdiction comes from the law there must, of necessity, be a law defining it, but where there is such a law the duty of determining where cases belong is one that the courts must perform.

We agree with the appellant's counsel, that if the title to real estate is in question, the jurisdiction is in this tribunal. This court is the chief repository of appellate jurisdiction, and cases not expressly, or by clear implication, placed within the jurisdiction of the Appellate Court, remain in the original and chief repository of appellate jurisdiction. See authorities cited Elliott's Appellate Procedure, sections 34, 47. The statute creating the Appellate Court expressly designates the classes of appeals of which it is given jurisdiction, and this express mention excludes implication. "The express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of others," is here the ruling maxim. We are also of the opinion that where the title to land is directly and necessarily involved, it constitutes the principal element of the case, and that the principal carries with it all incidents; so that, if the title to land is necessarily and directly involved in the case, the jurisdiction is in the Supreme Court, although there may be nothing more than a mere money recovery. See Elliott's Appellate Procedure, section 40, n. 1. Ibid, sections 36, 37 and notes. But where there is, on the face of the record, a simple judgment for money, and no specific decree, or no order affecting the title to real estate, the case prima facie falls within the jurisdiction of the Appellate Court, and...