STATE FOR USE OF MARKLEY V. BALDWIN

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Justia & Oyez
• Citation: STATE FOR USE OF MARKLEY V. BALDWIN, 112 U. S. 490 (1854)
• Decision Date: 15 December 1854

State for Use of Markley v. Baldwin

Argued November 13-14, 1884

Decided December 15, 1854

112 U.S. 490

N ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

Syllabus

A suit on an administrator's bond, taken in the name of a state for the benefit of parties interested, is, for the purposes of jurisdiction, to be regarded as a suit in the name of the party for whose benefit it is brought.

Testimony as to admissions and conduct of a deceased person cannot be impeached by proof of that person's statement concerning the character of the witness testifying to them.

If one of the issues at a trial be whether parties cohabiting together in a state in which marriage is a civil contract, to which no attending ceremonies are necessary, were man and wife, it is the duty of the court to direct the jury, in the absence of statutory regulations on the subject, to the necessity of proof of some public recognition of the marriage, by which it can be known, or reputation of the relation may obtain.

A general verdict upon distinct issues raised by several pleas cannot be sustained if there was error as to the admission of evidence or in the charge of the court as to any one of the issues.

This was a suit on an administrator's bond taken in the name of the State of Maryland for the benefit of the parties interested. It was commenced in a state court of Maryland, against citizens of Maryland, and was removed to the circuit court of the United States on the ground that the real party in interest was a citizen of New Jersey. The facts raising the questions of jurisdiction and the questions on the merits are all fully stated in the opinion of the Court.

MR. JUSTICE FIELD delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action brought for the use of Markley, a citizen of New Jersey, upon the bond of the administrators of the estate of Daniel Lord, deceased, who died intestate in 1866, in Cecil County, Maryland, of which state he was at the time a

Page 112 U. S. 491

citizen and in which he owned real and personal property. It was commenced in the circuit court of that county. The defendants are citizens of Maryland.

Markley filed his affidavit setting forth his citizenship and that of the defendants, and that he had reason to believe and did believe that, from prejudice and local influence, he would not be able to obtain justice in the state court. The action was thereupon removed to the circuit court of the United states for the district. It would appear somewhat singular that a party should aver his inability to obtain justice, from the causes stated, in an action brought for his benefit in the name of the state in one of her own courts, but from the fact that the state is only a formal plaintiff, the actual litigation being between the other parties.

By the law of Maryland, the bond of an administrator is taken to the state, but is held for the security of persons interested in the estate of the deceased. The name of the state is used from necessity when a suit on the bond is prosecuted for the benefit of a person thus interested, and, in such cases, the real controversy is between him and the obligors on the bond. If the residence of these parties be in different states, the circuit court of the United states has jurisdiction.

A statute of Virginia in force in 1809 required bonds given by executors for the faithful execution of their duties to be made payable to the justices of the peace of the county where letters' were issued, but allowed suits to be brought upon them at the instance of any party aggrieved, and in Browne v. Strode, 5 Cranch 303, this Court held that the circuit court of the United states for the district had jurisdiction of an action upon such a bond in the name of the justices of the peace for the use of a British subject, though the defendants were citizens of Virginia, the real controversy being between them and an alien.

A statute of Mississippi in force in 1844 required sheriffs to execute bonds to the governor of the state for the faithful performance of their duties, which could be prosecuted by any party aggrieved, until the whole penalty was recovered. In McNutt v. Bland, 2 How. 9, an action was brought in the

Page 112 U. S. 492

Circuit Court of the United states for the District of Mississippi in the name of the governor for the use of citizens of New York against defendants who were citizens of Mississippi, and on demurrer it was held that the circuit court had jurisdiction, this court observing that there was a controversy and a suit between citizens of New York and citizens of Mississippi, and there was neither between the governor and the defendants, that as an instrument of the state his name was on the bond and to the suit, but in no just view of the Constitution could he be considered as a litigant party. "Both," it added,

"look to things not names -- to the actors in controversies and suits, not to the mere forms or inactive instruments used in conducting them, in virtue of some positive law."

The justices of the peace in the one case and the governor in the other were mere conduits through whom the law afforded a remedy to persons aggrieved, who alone constituted the complaining parties. So, in the present case, the state is a mere nominal party; she could not prevent the institution of the action nor control the proceedings or the judgment therein. The case must be treated, so far as the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United states is concerned, as though Markley was alone named as plaintiff, and the action was properly removed to that court.

The declaration, after stating the appointment by the Orphan's Court of Cecil County of two of the defendants as administrators, and the execution of the bond by them as principals, and by the other defendants as sureties, alleges that the administrators took possession of the personal property of the deceased, paid all his debts, and on the 23d of October, 1867, passed their account, showing such payment, and that there was in...