Lindsey v. Fowler

• Decision Date: 01 February 1799
• Parties: v. Lindsey, et al. Fowler et al. v. Miller
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

3 U.S. 411

3 Dall. 411

1 L.Ed. 657 v. Lindsey, et al.

Fowler et al.

v. Miller.

February Term, 1799.

A rule had been originally obtained in these actions (which were depending in the Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut) at the instance of the Defendants, requiring the Plaintiff to shew cause, why a Venire should not be awarded to summon a Jury from some District, other than that of Connecticut or New York; but it was changed, by consent, into a rule to shew cause why the actions should not be removed by Certiorari into the Supreme Court, as exclusively belonging to that jurisdiction. On shewing cause, it appeared, that suits, in the nature of Ejectments, had been instituted in the Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut, to recover a tract of land, being part of the Connecticut Gore which that state had granted to Andrew Ward and Jeremiah Hasley, and by whom it had been conveyed to the Plaintiffs. The Defendants pleaded that they were inhabitants of the State of New York; that the premises, for which the suits were brought, lay in the County of Steuben, in the state of New York; and that the Circuit Court for the District of New York, or the Courts of the State, and no other Court, could take cognizance of the actions. The Plaintiffs replied, that the premises lay in the State of Connecticut; and, issue being joined, a venire was awarded. On the return, however, the Defendants challenged the array, because the Marshall of the District of Connecticut, a resident and citizen of that State, had arrayed the Jury by his deputy, who was, also, a citizen of Connecticut, and interested as a purchaser, or claimant, in the Connecticut Gore, under the same title as the Plaintiffs. The Plaintiffs prayed oyer of the record and return, averred that the deputy Marshall was not interested in the question in issue, and demurred to the challenge for being double, and contrary to the record, which does not shew that the Jury was returned by the deputy Marshall. The Defendants joined in demurrer. The Court over-ruled the challenge, as it respected the general interest of the Marshall and his deputy, owing to their being citizens of Connecticut; but allowed it, and quashed the array, on account of the particular interest of the deputy, he being interested in the same tract of land, under colour of the same title as the Plaintiffs.

That amended rule was argued, by Lewis and Hoffman (the Attorney-General of New York,) in favor of its being made absolute, and by Hillhouse of Connecticut against it, on the question, whether the suits ought to be considered as virtually depending between the States of Connecticut and New York? And the following opinions were delivered by the Court, The Chief Justice, however, declining, on account of the interest of Connecticut, to take any part in the decision, and Chase, and Iredell, Justices, being absent on account of indisposition.

Washington, Justice.

The first question that occurs, from the arguments on the present occasion, respects the nature of the rights, that are contested in the suits, depending in the Circuit Court. Without entering into a critical examination of the Constitution and laws, in relation to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, I lay down the following as a safe rule: That a case which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, on account of the interest that a state has in the controversy, must be a case, in which a State is either nominally, or substantially, the party. It is not sufficient, that a State may be consequentially affected; for, in such case (as where the grants of different States are brought into litigation) the Circuit Court has clearly a jurisdiction. And this remark furnishes an answer to the suggestions, that have been founded on the remote interest of the State, in making retribution to her grantees, upon the event of an eviction.

It is not contended that the States are nominally the parties; nor do I think that they can be regarded as substantially, the parties, to the suits: nay, it appears to me, that they are not even interested, or affected. They have a right either to the soil, or to the jurisdiction. If they have the right of soil, they may contest it, at any time, in this Court, notwithstanding a decision in the present suits; and though they may have parted with the right of soil, still the right of jurisdiction is unimpaired. A decision, as to the former object, between individual Citizens, can never affect the right of the State, as to the latter object: it is res inter alios acta. For, suppose the Jury in some cases should find in favor of the title under New York; and, in others, they should find in favor of the title under Connecticut, how would this decide the right of jurisdiction?...