Troy v. Evans

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Citation97 U.S. 1,24 L.Ed. 941
PartiesTROY v. EVANS
Decision Date01 October 1877

MOTION to dismiss a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Middle District of Alabama.

This is an action commenced Oct. 31, 1872, by Evans, Gardner, & Co., against the Mayor and Councilmen of Troy, a municipal corporation in Alabama.

The declaration alleges that the defendant, on the 19th of February, 1869, pursuant to lawful authority, issued certain town bonds, each for $100, payable to bearer, with interest at eight per cent per annum from said date, in ten annual instalments, after the completion of the Mobile and Girard Railroad to said town, together with the accrued interest; that sixty-three of said bonds are the property of the plaintiffs; that said road was completed to the town of Troy June 9, 1870; and that three annual instalments of ten per cent each, amounting to $30 of the principal, are due and unpaid on each of said bonds, besides interest. The plaintiffs therefore claim $1,890, the amount of the instalments due on said bonds, with interest on said bonds, at eight per cent per annum, from Feb. 19, 1869.

The defendant's plea sets forth that at the commencement of the suit the plaintiffs held the bonds as security for an existing liability or indebtedness of one Jones to them, which was much smaller in amount than the amount of said bonds, and which was neither paid nor extinguished by said bonds, nor by their delivery to the plaintiffs by said Jones; that the plaintiffs obtained said bonds from Jones, before the commencement of the suit, as security for his liability or indebtedness to them, and held the same as such security at the commencement of the suit, and not otherwise; and that, when they so obtained said bonds, they had notice that Jones was a citizen of the State of Alabama, as in fact he then was, and ever since has been.

There was a judgment for the plaintiffs, May 27, 1875, for $3,926.96. The defendant below then sued out this writ of error, which the defendants in error now move to dismiss, on the ground that the amount in controversy is not sufficient to give this court jurisdiction.

Mr. H. A. Herbert for the defendants in error, in support of the motion.

Mr. Samuel F. Rice and Mr. Thomas G. Jones, contra.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE delivered the opinion of the court.

The writ of error in this case was sued out by the defendants below, upon a judgment rendered May 27, 1875, for $3,926.96. If there were nothing more, it would be...

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22 cases
  • Button v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York, 418.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court of Western District of Kentucky
    • 9 Enero 1943
    ...the meaning and purpose of the statute, and to be in accord with early rulings of the Supreme Court on analogous questions. Troy v. Evans, 97 U.S. 1, 24 L.Ed. 941; Town of Elgin v. Marshall, 106 U.S. 578, 1 S.Ct. 484, 27 L. Ed. 249. The reserve set up by the Insurance Company is not the mat......
  • Nelson v. Camp Mfg. Co., Civ. A. No. 673.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. United States District Court of South Carolina
    • 20 Abril 1942
    ...parties may sustain by the probative effect of the judgment, however certain it may be that such loss will occur. * * * In Troy v. Evans, 97 U.S. 1, (24 L.Ed. 941), action was brought to recover certain installments upon bonds, the aggregate of which bonds exceeded $5,000, but the judgment ......
  • Gates v. Union Central Life Ins. Co., Civil Actions No. 3479
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • 28 Febrero 1944
    ...view, they are based on the following principles. The collateral effect of a judgment is not the test of jurisdiction. Troy v. Evans, 97 U.S. 1, 24 L.Ed. 941; Town of Elgin v. Marshall, 106 U.S. 578, 1 S.Ct. 484, 27 L.Ed. 249; New Jersey Zinc Co. v. Trotter, 108 U.S. 564, 2 S.Ct. 875, 27 L.......
  • White v. Hines, 289.
    • United States
    • North Carolina United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • 26 Octubre 1921
    ...in judgment of law is sufficient to establish the fact, and if not rebutted remains sufficient for the purpose. Troy v. Evans, 97 U.S. 3, 24 L.Ed. 941; Kelly v. Jackson, 6 Pet. 622, 8 L.Ed. 523; Jones on Evidence, § 8; State v. Floyd, 35 N.C. 385; State v. Wilkerson, supra. Even if the prim......
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