Matthews v. Huwe, s. 39

Decision Date30 November 1925
Docket NumberNos. 39,40,s. 39
PartiesMATTHEWS v. HUWE, County Treasurer (two cases)
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Mortimer Mattews, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for plaintiffs in error.

Mr. Charles S. Bell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice TAFT delivered the opinion of the Court.

Marianna Matthews owns one tract of land, and Mortimer Matthews five others, in Hamilton county, Ohio. They lie within half a mile of section X of the Glendale and Milford road. The plaintiffs brought suits under section 12075 of the General Code of Ohio, providing that common pleas courts may enjoin the illegal levy or collection of taxes and assessments, to enjoin the county treasurer, the defendant in error, from collecting assessments made and levied on these lands for the cost of the improvement of section X. Among other grounds for the petitions were allegations that the proceedings to assess were in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Constitution, in that they took away property from the plaintiffs without due process of law. In the common pleas court the injunctions were sustained to the extent of soem interest found to be excessive, but were denied in other respects. Appeals were taken to the Court of Appeals of Hamilton county, which affirmed the decrees of the common pleas court. Appeals as of right were then prosecuted to the Supreme Court of the state, based on the ground that the cases involved constitutional questions. The Supreme Court made the following order in each case:

'Dec. 27, 1923. * * * This cause came on to be heard upon the transcript of the record of the Court of Appeals of Hamilton county, and it appearing to the court that this cause was filed as of right, and that the record presents no debatable constitutional question, it is ordered that the petition in error be, and the same hereby is dismissed.

'It is further ordered that defendant in error recover from the plaintiff in error his costs herein expended, taxed at $_____.'

Thereupon writs of error were applied for and allowed not to the Supreme Court of Ohio, but to the Court of Appeals. Motions are now made to dismiss the writs.

We think the motions must be granted. In Hetrick v. Village of Lindsey, 265 U. S. 384, 44 S. Ct. 486, 68 L. Ed. 1065, Hetrick brought suit under the same section of the Ohio Code to enjoin the illegal collection of a special assessment. The injunction was denied in the common pleas court and in the Court of Appeals, on appeal. The plaintiff filed a petition in error in the Supreme Court of the state. The defendant moved to dismiss on the ground that no leave to file it had been granted. The plaintiff claimed that no leave was necessary under the Ohio practice, because the case involved a question under the Constitution of the United States, and the appeal was of right. The court sustained the motion to dismiss, on the ground that the statute whose validity was attacked had been so long held constitutional by the courts of the state that it could no longer be questioned. A writ of error to bring the case here was allowed by the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and entertained by this court. That case is exactly like this except as to the court to which the writ of error was directed.

The plaintiffs in error rely on the case of Norfolk & Suburban Turnpike Co. v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 225 U. S. 264, 32 S. Ct. 282, 56 L. Ed. 1082, and the rule laid down by Chief Justice White, in which the said (at page 269 (32 S. Ct. 830)):

'For the purpose of avoiding the complexity and doubt which must continue to recur, and for the guidance of suitors in the future, we now state that, from and after the opening of the next term of this court, where a writ of error is prosecuted to an alleged judgment or a decree of a court of last resort of a state declining to allow a writ of error to or an appeal from a lower state court, unless it plainly appears, on the face of the record, by an affirmance in...

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9 cases
  • Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Durham County, North Carolina Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Durham County, North Carolina
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • December 9, 1986
    ...ruled that the appeal lies from the Ohio Supreme Court and not from that State's Court of Appeals. See Matthews v. Huwe, 269 U.S. 262, 265, 46 S.Ct. 108, 109, 70 L.Ed. 266 (1925); Hetrick v. Village of Lindsey, 265 U.S. 384, 386, 44 S.Ct. 486, 68 L.Ed. 1065 (1924). See also Tumey v. Ohio, 2......
  • Van Huffel v. Harkelrode, s. 54
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • December 7, 1931
    ...of the case on the merits. Hetrick v. Village of Lindsey, 265 U. S. 384, 386, 44 S. Ct. 486, 68 L. Ed. 1065; Matthews v. Huwe, 269 U. S. 262, 265, 46 S. Ct. 108, 70 L. Ed. 266. Under the federal practice a writ of certiorari would, therefore, have to be directed to that court if it had poss......
  • Tumey v. State of Ohio
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • March 7, 1927
    ...a writ of error allowed by the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, to which it was rightly directed. Matthews v. Huwe, Treasurer, 269 U. S. 262, 46 S. Ct. 108, 70 L. Ed. 266; Hetrick v. Village of Lindsey, 265 U. S. 384, 44 S. Ct. 486, 68 L. Ed. 1065. This brings us to the merits of t......
  • Western Union Telegraph Co v. Priester
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • February 20, 1928
    ...828, 56 L. Ed. 1082; Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Crovo, 220 U. S. 364, 31 S. Ct. 399, 55 L. Ed. 498; compare Matthews v. Huwe, 269 U. S. 262, 46 S. Ct. 108, 70 L. Ed. 266. In Primrose v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 154 U. S. 1, 14 S. Ct. 1098, 38 L. Ed. 883, relied upon by the Supreme C......
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