Church v. Kelsey

• Decision Date: 18 April 1887
• Citation: Church v. Kelsey, 121 U.S. 282, 7 S.Ct. 897, 30 L.Ed. 960 (1887)
• Parties: CHURCH and another v. KELSEY and others
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

121 U.S. 282

7 S.Ct. 897

30 L.Ed. 960

CHURCH and another v. KELSEY and others.

April 18, 1887.

a. Ricketts, for plaintiffs in error.

Chapin Brown, for defendants in error.

WAITE, C. J.

If we understand correctly the questions on which it is claimed our jurisdiction in this case rests, they are: (1) That the provision in section 1, art. 14, of the amendments of the constitution of the United States, that a state shall not 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law,' prevents the state of Pennsylvania from giving jurisdiction to a court of equity of a suit brought by the owner of an equitable interest in land to establish his rights against the holder of the legal title, because it deprives the holder of the legal title of the right to a trial by jury, which he would have in a suit at law; and (2) that, as the constitution of a state is the 'fundamental contract made between the collective body of citizens of the state and each individual citizen,' a state statute which violates a state constitution is a 'law impairing the obligation of contracts,' within the meaning of that term as used in art. 1, § 10, cl. 1, of the constitution of the United States.

It sufficiently appears from the record that the first of these questions was actually presented to and decided by the court below adversely to the claim of the plaintiffs in error. That is sufficient to give us jurisdiction; but the decision was so clearly right that it is unnecessary to keep the case here for further argument. Certainly the provision of the constitution referred to cannot have the effect of taking away from the states the power of giving a court of equity jurisdiction in cases requiring equitable relief. It may be true that in Pennsylvania 'equity powers have been doled out to the courts by the legislature with a sparing hand,' but there is nothing in the constitution of the United States which requires that this...