Palmer v. State of Ohio
| Citation | 248 U.S. 32,39 S.Ct. 16,63 L.Ed. 108 |
| Decision Date | 18 November 1918 |
| Docket Number | No. 260,260 |
| Parties | PALMER et al. v. STATE OF OHIO |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
Messrs. John G. Romer, of St. Henry, Ohio, and T. F. Raudabaugh, of Celina, Ohio, for plaintiffs in error.
Messrs. Clarence D. Laylin and Frank Davis, Jr., both of Columbus, Ohio, for the State of Ohio.
The plaintiffs in error sued the state of Ohio for damages for flooding lands by elevating the spillway of a state-maintained dam. The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the action of the lower courts in dismissing the petition on the ground that the state had not consented so to be sued, and we are asked to review this decision.
The plaintiffs in error agree, as they must, that their suit cannot be maintained without the consent of the state, but they claim that such consent was given in an amendment to section 16 of article 1 of the state Constitution, adopted in 1912, which reads:
'Suits may be brought against the state, in such courts and in such manner, as may be provided by law.'
The state Supreme Court held that this amendment is not self-executing, and that the General Assembly of the state having failed to designate the courts and the manner in which such suits might be brought, effective consent to sue had not been given. This decision, the plaintiffs in error claim, vaguely and indefinitely, somehow deprives them of their property without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
The right of individuals to sue a state, in either a federal or a state court, cannot be derived from the Constitution or laws of the United States. It can come only from the consent of the state. Beers v. State of Arkansas, 20 How. 527, 15 L. Ed. 991; Railroad Co. v. Tennessee, 101 U. S. 337, 25 L. Ed. 960; Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1, 10 Sup. Ct. 504, 33 L. Ed. 842. Whether Ohio gave the required consent must be determined by the construction to be given to the constitutional amendment quoted, and this is a question of local state law, as to which the decision of the state Supreme Court is controlling with this court, no federal right being involved. Elmendorf v. Taylor, 10 Wheat. 152, 159, 6 L. Ed. 289; Old Colony Trust Co. v. Omaha, 230 U. S. 100, 116, 33 Sup. Ct. 967, 57 L. Ed. 1410; Memphis Street Railway Co. v. Moore, 243 U. S. 299, 301, 37 Sup. Ct. 273, 61 L. Ed. 733.
The further claim...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Seminole Tribe Florida v. Florida
...1031, 44 L.Ed. 945 (1900); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U.S. 436, 446, 20 S.Ct. 919, 923, 44 L.Ed. 1140 (1900); Palmer v. Ohio, 248 U.S. 32, 34, 39 S.Ct. 16, 16-17, 63 L.Ed. 108 (1918); Duhne v. New Jersey, 251 U.S. 311, 313, 40 S.Ct. 154, 64 L.Ed. 280 (1920); Ex parte New York, 256 U.S. 490, 497, ......
-
Williams v. Keyes
... ... herein provided within the time required, such election ... may be ordered by any State Court of general ... jurisdiction.' and that the Court do forthwith issue ... to the Defendants, ... deciding it. Adams v. Russell, 229 U.S. 353, 33 ... S.Ct. 846, 57 L.Ed. 1224; Palmer v. State of Ohio, ... 248 U.S. 32, 39 S.Ct. 16, 63 L.Ed. 108; Chicago, R.I. & ... P. R. Co. v ... ...
-
Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon
...S.Ct. 1031, 44 L.Ed. 945 (1900); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U.S. 436, 446, 20 S.Ct. 919, 923, 44 L.Ed. 1140 (1900); Palmer v. Ohio, 248 U.S. 32, 34, 39 S.Ct. 16, 17, 63 L.Ed. 108 (1918); Duhne v. New Jersey, 251 U.S. 311, 313, 40 S.Ct. 154, 64 L.Ed. 280 (1920); Ex parte New York, 256 U.S., at 497......
-
Kristensen v. Strinden
...Clause, may raise sovereign immunity as a bar to a suit for violation of Federal constitutional rights. In Palmer v. Ohio, 248 U.S. 32, 34, 39 S.Ct. 16, 63 L.Ed. 108, 109 (1918), the Court stated that "[t]he right of individuals to sue a State, in either a federal or a state court, cannot b......
-
Citizen Suits Against States and Territories and the Eleventh Amendment
...(1933) (same); Ex Parte New York, 256 U.S. 490, 497 (1921) (same); Duhne v. New Jersey, 251 U.S. 311, 313 (1920) (same); Palmer v. Ohio, 248 U.S. 32, 34 (1918) (same); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U.S. 436, 446 (1900) (same); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524 (1899) (same); North Carolina v. Templ......