Maynard v. Hecht

• Decision Date: 22 January 1894
• Docket Number: No. 680,680
• Citation: 14 S.Ct. 353,38 L.Ed. 179,151 U.S. 324
• Parties: MAYNARD et al. v. HECHT
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

151 U.S. 324

14 S.Ct. 353

38 L.Ed. 179

MAYNARD et al.

v HECHT.

No. 680.

January 22, 1894.

Statement by Mr. Chief Justice FULLER:

Charles Hecht filed his petition in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Nebraska, October 14, 1890, against the plaintiffs in error, alleging that the amount in controversy in the suit exceeded the sum or value of $2,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and that he had been damaged in the sum of $2,500 by reason of the purchase, upon defendants' false and fraudulent representations in writing, of certain land, for which he paid the sum of $1,800, and which turned out to be without value. The petition, among other things, averred that plaintiff had executed a deed of reconveyance of the property in question, and formally tendered the same, and he brought said deed into court, and also a promissory note of the Saline County Nurseries given to him at the time of the purchase as indemnity against a mortgage upon the premises, and prayed judgment for $2,500, together with interest and costs. Defendants answered, denying the allegations of the petition, and alleging that the purchase price of the land was paid in horses, which Hecht guarantied to be sound, but which were in fact worthless. To this answer a reply in general denial was filed, and, trial having been had, a verdict was returned in favor of Hecht for $1,720. Defendants then moved for a new trial, and the same day filed a motion to dismiss the case upon the ground that the circuit court had no jurisdiction, since it appeared from the petition that the amount in controversy was less than the sum of $2,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and no veidence was introduced at the trial tending to prove that the amount exceeded that sum. June 10, 1891, the court overruled each of the motions and entered judgment upon the verdict. The writ of error was allowed November 16, 1891. No certificate of question for decision was applied for, or granted by the court.

Waller H. Smith, C. W. Holcomb, Walter J. Lamb, Arnott C. Ricketts, and Henry H. Wilson, for the motion.

C. S. Montgomery, opposed.

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

Under section 5 of the judiciary act of March 3, 1891, a writ of error can be taken directly to this court from the circuit courts only in the six classes of cases therein mentioned; and the contention is that the writ may be sustained in this case, as falling within the first class, described in that section as follows: 'In any case in which the jurisdiction of the court is in issue; in such case the question of jurisdiction alone shall be certified to the supreme court from the court below for decision.' According to that provision the question involving the jurisdiction of the circuit court must have been in issue and decided against the party seeking to bring it before this court for determination, and must be certified for decision. And as no such question was certified by the circuit court in this case, we are confronted on the threshold with the inquiry whether we can take jurisdiction of the writ, an inquiry controlled by the rule that an affirmative description of the appellate jurisdiction of this court in a suit implies a negative on the exercise of such appellate power as is not comprehended within it.

By the act of February 25, 1889, (25 Stat. 693, c. 236,) it was provided 'that in all cases where a final judgment or decree shall be rendered in the circuit court of the United States in which there shall have been a question involving the jurisdiction of the court, the party against whom the judgment or decree is rendered shall be entitled to an appeal or writ of error to the supreme court of the United States to review such judgment or decree wighout reference to the amount of the same; but in cases where the judgment or decree does not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars the supreme court shall not review any question raised upon the record except such question raised upon diction.' The act of 1891 was framed in this regard in view of the former act, and section 5 restricts the power of this court, in all suits in which its appellate jurisdiction is invoked by reason of the existence of a question involving the jurisdiction of the circuit court over the case, to the review of that question only. The act did not contemplate several appeals in the same suit at the same time, but gave to a party to a suit in...