Union Trust Company of St Louis v. Ben Westhus

• Decision Date: 05 May 1913
• Docket Number: No. 46,46
• Citation: 228 U.S. 519,33 S.Ct. 593,57 L.Ed. 947
• Parties: UNION TRUST COMPANY OF ST. LOUIS, Executor of the Estate of George A. Madill, Deceased, Plff. in Err., v. BEN WESTHUS and E. B. Allen, Collector of Internal Revenue, First District of Missouri
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

228 U.S. 519

33 S.Ct. 593

57 L.Ed. 947

UNION TRUST COMPANY OF ST. LOUIS, Executor of the Estate of George A. Madill, Deceased, Plff. in Err.,

v BEN WESTHUS and E. B. Allen, Collector of Internal Revenue, First District of Missouri.

No. 46.

Argued November 8 and 11, 1912.

Decided May 5, 1913.

Messrs. H. T. Newcomb, Montague Lyon, and S. L. Swarts for plaintiff in error.

Assistant Attorney General Harr for defendants in error.

Mr. Chief Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff in error was plaintiff below, and brought this action to recover a sum levied as a legacy tax under §§ 29 and 30 of the war revenue act of June 13, 1898, chap. 448, 30 Stat. at L. 464, 465, as amended by the act of March 2, 1901, chap. 806, §§ 10, 11, 31 Stat. at L. 946-948, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, pp. 2308, 2310. The grounds for recovery stated in the petition in effect presented only questions of statutory construction. The trial court, being of opinion that a recovery was justified upon one of the stated grounds, sustained a demurrer to the answer, and the defendants not desiring to plead further, judgment was entered for the plaintiff. The case was then taken to the circuit court of appeals. That court, in a full and careful opinion, reviewed the grounds for recovery relied upon in the petition, decided that all the grounds of the claim were without merit, and held there was no right to the relief prayed. In consequence the judgment of the court below was reversed and the case was remanded with directions to overrule the demurrer, and for further proceedings consistent with the views expressed in the opinion of the court. 90 C. C. A. 441, 164 Fed. 795. A petition for rehearing was overruled. 94 C. C. A. 95, 168 Fed. 617.

On the receipt of the mandate the trial court allowed the plaintiff to file an amended petition, wherein, in addition to repeating the contentions urged in the original petition, it was alleged that the 'clear value' of the life estate in question had been fixed and determined by a method so arbitrary as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law. A demurrer to this amended petition was sustained, and, the plaintiff elect- ing not to plead further, judgment was entered in favor of the defendants.

The case was then brought directly to this court upon the theory that a constitutional question was involved. The assignments of error invoked a re-examination of all the issues, including those which had been adversely passed on by the circuit court of appeals. On these assignments the case was argued at bar and taken under advisement on a record which contained only the proceedings had in the trial court subsequent to the filing of the mandate of the circuit court of appeals. While in that situation the published report of the opinion of the circuit court of appeals came under our observation. Mindful of the proper consideration due to the circuit court of appeals, and of our duty at all times to be scrupulous to keep within our jurisdiction, for the purpose of enabling us to apply the doctrine announced in the case of Aspen Min. & Smelting Co. v. Billings, 150 U. S. 31, 37 L. ed. 986, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 4, in which case, as in this, the record did not disclose that the cause had been passed upon by the circuit court of appeals, although there were on the files of this court certiorari proceedings so showing, to which resort was had, we directed that the court below supply the deficiency, if any there was, in the record, by certifying all the proceedings had in the case. At once, by stipulation of counsel, an additional transcript was filed, stating the proceedings on the first trial, the taking of the appeal to the circuit court of appeals, and the action of that court, and in the light thus afforded we come first to consider our jurisdiction over the controversy.

There can be no doubt that on the record upon which the circuit court of appeals acted, the judgment of that court, if it had been final in form, would have been beyond our competency to review. Spreckels Sugar Ref. Co. v. McClain, 192 U. S. 397, 48 L. ed. 496, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 376. There can equally be no doubt that if we have power to pass upon the case on this record our jurisdiction embraces not only the right to decide the alleged constitutional question raised after the mandate of the circuit court of appeals had been filed in the trial court, but also all other questions arising on the record, including those passed upon by the circuit court of appeals. Indeed, it is unnecessary to cite the many authorities sustaining this view, since the insistence of the plaintiff in error is that every question is open, and in effect the argument seeks a review and reversal of the rulings previously made by the circuit court of appeals. But by the distribution of power made by the act of 1891 [26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 488] and embodied in the Judicial Code [36 Stat. at L. 1087, chap. 231, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, p. 128], no jurisdiction is conferred upon this court to review a judgment or decree of the circuit court of appeals otherwise than by proceedings addressed directly to that court in a cause which is susceptible of being reviewed. ...