Colvin v. City of Jacksonville

• Citation: 39 L.Ed. 1053,15 S.Ct. 866,158 U.S. 456
• Decision Date: 27 May 1895
• Docket Number: No. 991,991
• Parties: COLVIN v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

158 U.S. 456

15 S.Ct. 866

39 L.Ed. 1053

COLVIN

v CITY OF JACKSONVILLE et al.

No. 991.

May 27, 1895.

This was a bill filed by John H. Colvin, a citizen of the state of Illinois, on May 8, 1894, against the city of Jacksonville, Fla., and its mayor, in the circuit court of the United States for the Northern district of Florida, to enjoin and restrain the is ue, sale, delivery, pledge, or other disposition of a certain issue of bonds, to the amount of $1,000,000.

By the act of congress entitled 'An act to change the boundaries of the judicial districts of the state of Florida,' approved July 23, 1894 (28 Stat. 117, c. 149), the county of Duval, in which the city of Jacksonville is situated, was detached from the Northern district of the state, and attached to the Southern district thereof.

The bill was dismissed by the circuit court, December 4, 1894, for want of jurisdiction, and an appeal prayed and allowed to this court; and, being docketed, the case was dismissed April 1, 1895, because of the absence of a certificate of the circuit court, in accordance with section 5 of the judiciary act of March 3, 1891. Colvin v. City of Jacksonville, 157 U. S. 368, 15 Sup. Ct. 634. Thereupon, plaintiff prayed a second appeal, which was allowed, and a certificate on the question of jurisdiction to this court signed, April 11, 1895; and the cause, having been again docketed, was submitted as under the thirty-second rule.

H. Bisbee, for appellant.

A. W. Cockrell and J. C. Cooper, for appellees.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

We are of opinion that where the jurisdiction of the court below is in issue, and the case is certified to us for decision, the certificate must be granted during the term at which the judgment or decree is entered, by analogy to the statutory provisions on that subject which obtained in relation to certificates of division of opinion,—Rev. St. §§ 650-452, 693, 697 (Maynard v. Hecht, 151 U. S. 324, 14 Sup. Ct. 353),—and in view of the general rule as to the inability of the court to deal with matters of this sort after the expiration of the term (Hickman v. City of Ft. Scott, 141 U. S. 415, 12 Sup. Ct. 9; Morse v. Anderson, 150 U. S. 156, 14 Sup. Ct. 43).

But we assume, though it is somewhat obscure, that the term was still open when this certificate was signed. The certificate is as follows:

'This cause came on to be heard upon a motion for an injunction as prayed for in the bill of complaint, and for the appointment of a receiver.

'In the bill and amended bill filed herein, complainant alleged that he was a citizen of the state of Illinois; that he owned property within the limits of the city of Jacksonville; that the city was about to issue and sell bonds of said city to the amount of one million dollars; that the amount of taxes that would be assessed upon the property owned by him in the city of Jacksonville, on account of the issue of said bonds, as interest and sinking fund, would exceed two thousand dollars,—whereupon he prayed for an injunction, and a receiver for any such bonds as may have been issued.

'The answer filed denied that complainant was the owner of taxable property upon which the amount of taxes which would be levied, as interest and sinking fund, on account of the issue of said bonds, would exceed two thousand dollars, but alleged that the only property owned by complainant which would be liable to taxation by said city of Jacksonville was but about $14,000, and the amount of taxes would not exceed $2,000; and upon a hearing upon the bills and answer, and affidavits in support of the allegations of the same, had upon motion of the complainant, it was contended by the complainant that the property of said complainant would be liable to taxation, on account of the issue of said bonds, to an amount exceeding $2,000, and it was further contended by complainant, as a proposition of law, that the amount of taxes that the complainant would have to pay was not the amount in controversy, but that the total amount of issue of bonds (one million of dollars) was the amount in controversy, which would deter- mine the jurisdiction of this court; and upon said hearing as aforesaid the court found, as a matter of fact, that the amount of taxes which the complainant would be obligedt o pay, as interest and sinking fund, on account of the said proposed issue of bonds, would not exceed two thousand dollars, and, as a matter of law, that the interest which the complainant had...