American Sugar-Refining Co. v. Johnson

60 F. 503, 9 C.C.A. 110, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2368
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedDecember 19, 1893
DocketNo. 153
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 60 F. 503 (American Sugar-Refining Co. v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Sugar-Refining Co. v. Johnson, 60 F. 503, 9 C.C.A. 110, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2368 (5th Cir. 1893).

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts). The record shows that the question of jurisdiction of the circuit court was not raised in the court below, and of course the jurisdiction is not certified as involved in the case. The first assignment of error raises the question in this court that the jurisdiction of the circuit court does not appear from the face of the record. The ap-pellee, relying upon the textual provisions of section 5 of the judiciary act of 1891, which is to the effect that appeals or writs of error may be taken from the district courts or existing circuit courts direct to the supreme court in any case in which the jurisdiction of the court is in issue, and upon the terms of the sixth section, which restrict the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of appeal to cases other than those provided for in the fifth section, contends that this assignment of error cannot be considered in this court.

“The ralo, springing from the ñatee and limits of the judicial power of the United States, is inflexible and without exception, which requires this court, of its own motion, to deny its own jurisdiction, and, in tlie exercise of its appellate power, that of all oilier courts of the United States, in all eases where such jurisdiction does not affirmatively appear in the record on which, in the exercise of that power, it is called to act. On every writ of error or appeal 1he first and fundamental question is that of jurisdiction, first of this court, and then of the court from which-the record comes. -This [508]*508question the court is bound to ask and answer for itself, even when not otherwise suggested, and without respect to the rel'tion of the parties to it.” Railway Co. v. Swan, 111 U. S. 379-389, 4 Sup. Ct. 510.

In the case of McLish v. Roff the supreme court of the United States, in construing the fifth and sixth sections of the judiciary-act of. 1891, among other things, said:

‘¡The true purpose of the act, as gathered from its context, is that the writ of error or the appeal may be taken only after final judgment, except ■ in tlie cases specified in section 7 of the act. When th.it judgment is rendered, tlie party against whom it is rendered must-elect whether he will take his writ of error or appeal to the supreme court upon the question of jurisdiction alone, or to the circuit court of appeals upon tlie whole cace. If the latter, then the circuit court of appeals may, if it deem proper, certify the question of jurisdiction to this court.” 141 U. S. 661-668, 12 Sup. Ct. 118.

Relying upon the construction given in McLish v. Roff, the.practice of this court has been, where an appeal or writ of error has been taken in the whole case, and the question of jurisdiction in the court below has been raised, to pass upon the question of jurisdiction as upon any other issue raised in the case. And accordingly, in Telephone Co. v. Robinson, 2 U. S. App. 148, 1 C. C. A. 91, 48 Fed. 769, which was a case in which the jurisdiction of the circuit court was not apparent of record, this court held that the jurisdiction of the circuit court must appear affirmatively in the record, citing Insurance Co. v. Rhoads, 119 U. S. 237, 7 Sup. Ct. 193; Timmons v. Land Co., 139 U. S. 378, 11 Sup. Ct. 585; and also held that, “where the jurisdiction of the circuit court does not appear in the record, the appellate court will, on its own motion, notice the defect, and make disposition of the case accordingly;” and we then reversed the decree of tlie circuit court remanding the cause to the court below with instructions to remand to the state court from which it was removed. And in Railway Co. v. Rogers, 6 C. C. A. 403, 57 Fed. 378, and in Tinsley v. Hoot, 2 U. S. App. 548, 3 C. C. A. 612, 53 Fed. 682, this court followed the same practice. In the case of Carey v. Railway Co. (recently decided, but not yet officially reported) 14 Sup. Ct. 63, the supreme court say:

“The judiciary act of March 3, 1891, in distributing the appellate jurisdiction of .tlie national judicial system between the supreme court and the circuit courts of appeals therein established, designated the classes of cases in respect of which each of these courts was to have final jurisdiction (the judgments of the latter being subject to the supervisory power of til's court through the writ of certiorari as provided), and the act has uniform y been so construed and applied as to promote its general and manifest purpose of lessening the burden of litigation in this court. The fifth section of tlie act specifies six classes of cases in which appeals or writs of error nny be taken directly to this court, of which we are only concerned with the first and fourth, which include those eases ‘in which the jurisdiction of the court is in issue. In such cases the question of jurisdiction alone shall be certified to the supreme court from the court below for decision,’ and ‘any case that involves the construction or application of the constitution of the United States.’ In order to bring this appeal within the first of these classes, the jurisdiction of the circuit court must have been in issue in this case, and, as appeals or writs of error lie here only from final judgments or decrees, must have been decided against appellants; and the question of jurisdiction must have been certified. We do not now say that the absence ¿f a formal [509]*509certificate would be fatal, but it is required by the statute, and its absence might have controlling weight where the alleged issue is not distinctly defined.”

Heading the fifth and sixth sections of the act of 1891 in the light of McLish v. Rolf and Carey v. Railway Co., and the former practice of this court, we consider that the exclusive jurisdiction of the supreme court, in any case where the jurisdiction of the court is in issue, only attaches when the appeal or writ of error is taken direct to that court, and that, when not so taken, but the appeal or writ of error is taken on the whole case to the circuit court of appeals, that court is vested with jurisdiction to pass on all the issues involved. As to certifying a jurisdictional question to the supreme court in such cases, that is only to be done when the instruction of that court is desired for the proper decision of the case. Watch Co. v. Robbins, 148 U. S. 266, 13 Sup. Ct. 594.

We consider, therefore, that we have full jurisdiction to pass upon the.first assignment of error in this case.

The right of a corporation to sue and be sued in the circuit courts of the United States, irrespective of the citizenship of the individual stockholders, was at one time much questioned, but was finally settled by the supreme court in favor of the right. Railway Co. v. Letson, 2 How. 497; Marshall v. Railway Co., 10 How. 314; Railroad Co. v. Wheeler, 1 Black, 286. See, also, Shaw v. Mining Co., 145 U. S. 444, 12 Sup. Ct. 935. In Railroad Co. v. Wheeler, supra, the following propositions are declared:

‘‘(1) A corporation exists only in contemplation of law, and by force of law, and can have no legal existence beyond the bounds of the sovereignty by which it is created.

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Bluebook (online)
60 F. 503, 9 C.C.A. 110, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-sugar-refining-co-v-johnson-ca5-1893.