Royal Insurance Company v. Ruperto Martin

Citation48 L.Ed. 385,24 S.Ct. 247,192 U.S. 149
Decision Date11 January 1904
Docket NumberNo. 86,86
PartiesROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. RUPERTO MARTIN, as Executor of the Will of Francisco Martin, Deceased
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. William G. Choate for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 150-152 intentionally omitted] Mr. Fritz von Briesen for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 152-155 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action by the executor of the insured on a policy of insurance made by the Royal Insurance Company, a British corporation, whereby that company insured Francisco Martin against loss or damage by fire to the amount of £700 on a certain building at Coto Laurel, district of Ponce, Porto Rico, and for £900 on the stock in trade contained in such building.

The declaration alleged, and the fact was not disputed, that during the term of the policy all the property insured was destroyed by fire. The case was tried by the court and a jury, and a verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiff for $7,623, the court refusing to require the jury to find the damages, separately, as to the building and the stock of goods; and for the above amount judgment was rendered against the company.

This was an action by the executor of the of this court to review the judgment below. If this position be well taken, the writ of error should be dismissed without considering the merits of the case. Continental Nat. Bank v. Buford, 191 U. S. 119, ante, 54, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 54. We must therefore examine the question of the jurisdiction, which depends upon the scope and effect of various statutory provisions, including those relating to the court established by Congress in Porto Rico. We will look at the statutes according to the respective dates of their enactment.

By § 702 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 571), it is provided that 'the final judgments and decrees of the supreme court of any territory except the territory of Washington, in cases where the value of the matter in dispute, exclusive of costs, . . . exceeds $1,000, may be reviewed and reversed or affirmed in the Supreme Court [of the United States] upon writ of error or appeal, in the same manner and under the same regulations as the final judgments and decrees of a circuit court. In the territory of Washington the value of the matter in dispute must exceed $2,000, exclusive of costs. And any final judgment or decree of the supreme court of said territory in any cause [when] the Constitution or a statute or treaty of the United States is brought in question may be reviewed in like manner.'

This provision was modified by the act of March 3d, 1885, entitled 'An Act Regulating Appeals from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and the Supreme Courts of the Several Territories;' for by the latter act it was provided: '§ 1. That no appeal or writ of error shall hereafter be allowed from any judgment or decree in any suit at law or in equity in the supreme court of the District of Columbia, or in the supreme court of any of the territories of the United States, unless the matter in dispute, exclusive of costs, shall exceed the sum of $5,000. § 2. That the preceding section shall not apply to any case wherein is involved the validity of any patent or copyright, or in which is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under, the United States; but in all such cases an appeal or writ of error may be brought without regard to the sum or value in dispute.' 23 Stat. at L. 443, chap. 355, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 572.

Then came the act of March 3d, 1891, 'to establish circuit courts of appeals, and to define and regulate in certain cases the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, and for other purposes.' 26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 547. The 5th section of that act prescribes the cases that may be brought directly to this court from the district courts or from the existing circuit courts of the United States, while the 6th section provides that the circuit courts of appeals 'shall exercise appellate jurisdiction to review by appeal or by writ of error final decision in the district court and the existing circuit courts in all cases other than those provided for in the preceding section of this act, unless otherwise provided by law;' the judgments or decrees of the circuit court of appeals to be final 'in all cases in which the jurisdiction is dependent entirely upon the opposite parties to the suit or controversy being aliens and citizens of the United States, or citizens of different states; also in all cases arising under the patent laws, under the revenue laws, and under the criminal laws, and in admiralty cases.' Further, by the same section: 'In all cases not hereinbefore, in this [6th] section, made final, there shall be of right an appeal or writ of error or review of the case by the Supreme Court of the United States where the matter in controversy shall exceed $1,000, besides costs.' § 6. The 13th section of the act provides: 'Appeals and writs of error may be taken and prosecuted from the decisions of the United States court in the Indian territory to the Supreme Court of the United States, or to the circuit court of appeals in the eighth circuit, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit or district courts of the United States, under this act.' And the 15th section is in these words: 'That the circuit court of appeal in cases in which the judgments of the circuit courts of appeal are made final by this act shall have the same appellate jurisdiction, by writ of error or appeal, to review the judgments, orders, and decrees of the supreme courts of the several territories as by this act they may have to review the judgments, orders, and decrees of the district court and circuit courts; and for that purpose the several territories shall, by orders of the Supreme Court, to be made from time to time, be assigned to particular circuits.' 26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 547.

This brings us to the act of April 12th, 1900, chap. 191, entitled, 'An Act Temporarily to Provide Revenues and a Civil Govern- ment for Porto Rico, and for Other Purposes.' 31 Stat. at L. 85.

By § 33 of that act it is declared, among other things, that the judicial power shall be vested in the courts and tribunals of Porto Rico as then established and in operation, under and by virtue of certain general orders promulgated by military authority,—the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court of Porto Rico, and the marshal thereof, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the judges of the district courts by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the executive council.

By the 34th section of that act Porto Rico was constituted a judicial district, to be called the district of Porto Rico, with a district judge, a district attorney, and marshal, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and with a district court called the 'district court of the United States for Porto Rico,' which court, in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, shall have jurisdiction of all cases cognizant in the circuit courts of the United States.

The section of the Porto Rico act upon which the question of our jurisdiction mainly depends is the 35th, which is in these words: 'That writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of the supreme court of Porto Rico and the district court of the United States shall be allowed and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations and in the same cases as from the supreme courts of the territories of the United States; and such writs of error and appeal shall be allowed in all cases where the Constitution of the United States, or a treaty thereof, or an act of Congress, is brought in question, and the right claimed thereunder is denied; and the supreme and district courts of Porto Rico, and the respective judges thereof, may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the judges of the district and circuit courts of the United States. All such proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States shall be conducted in the English language.' 31 Stat. at L. 85, chap. 191.

It thus appears that writs of error and appeals may be prosecuted directly to this court from the district court of the United States for Porto Rico, in the same manner, under the same regulations, and 'in the same cases' as from the supreme courts of the territories of the United States.

Could a case like the one before us have been brought directly to this court from the supreme court of one of the territories of the United States? If so, our jurisdiction in this case cannot be disputed under the Porto Rico act.

The question just stated must be answered in the affirmative, if we look alone at § 702 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 571), and the act of March 3d, 1885, chap. 355 (23 Stat. at L. 443, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 572); for it is clear from the express words of those enactments that this court may review the final judgment of the supreme court of one of the territories of the United States in any case, without regard to the sum or value in dispute, where the Constitution or a statute or treaty is brought in question, and in every other case whatever where the sum or value in dispute exceeds $5,000, exclusive of costs.

Is this result, so far as the final judgments of the district court of the United States for Porto Rico are concerned, affected by anything in the circuit court of appeals act of 1891? We think not. That act, no doubt, contemplated a review by the...

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