United States v. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co.

163 F. 66, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 5218
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Middle Tennessee
DecidedJuly 3, 1908
DocketNo. 963
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 163 F. 66 (United States v. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Middle Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., 163 F. 66, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 5218 (circtmdtn 1908).

Opinion

McCALE, District Judge.

The indictment in this case is found under the “Sherman Anti-Trust Law.” The defendants are corporations and individuals, numbering about 60. The corporation defendants may be divided into three classes, viz.: (1) Foreign corporations; those chartered under the laws of other states, and .which have not complied with the laws of Tennessee in relation to such corporations doing business within this state, and have no agents nor are doing business in Tennessee. (2) Foreign corporations which have complied with the laws of- Tennessee, and have agents and are doing business in Tennessee. (3) Domestic corporations, those chartered under the laws of Tennessee. One class of -defendants move to quash the summons and return. Another class demurs to the indictment, and also files pleas in abatement. These several defenses are [67]*67interposed, heard, and disposed of by agreement of counsel without regard to the order of pleading.

1. On Motion to Ouash Summons.

Motions to quash the summonses are made by the corporation defendants which are citizens and residents of states other than Tennessee and have no agents or place of business in Tennessee. The motions are based upon the ground that defendants are foreign corporations, and had no agents or other representatives within the state of Tennessee upon whom summons could be legally served, and that summonses, issued to the states of their respective residences and citizenship, and there served, were without authority of law, and that this court has no jurisdiction over them. ,

This precise question was before me in the case of United States v. Standard Oil Company. The conclusions there reached are stated in the opinion, reported in 154 Fed. 738. The summons in that case, as in the case at bar, was issued under Rev. St. § 716 (U. S- Comp. St. 1901, p. 580), which is as follows:

“Sec. 716. The Supreme Court and the Circuit and District Courts shall have power to issue writs of scire facias. They shall also have power to issue all writs not specifically provided for by statute, which may be necessary for the exercise ol' their respective jurisdictions, and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.”

It is respectfully but earnestly insisted for the defendants that the conclusion in that case is erroneous, and several cases are cited to sustain that contention, viz.: McIntire v. Wood, 7 Cranch, 506, 3 L. Ed. 420; McClung v. Silliman, 6 Wheat. 598, 5 L. Ed. 340; Bath County v. Amy, 13 Wall. 249, 20 L. Ed. 538; Rosenbaum v. Bauer, 120 U. S. 450, 7 Sup. Ct. 633, 30 L. Ed. 743. A careful examination of these cases discloses that the question therein decided was that the qourt, having no jurisdiction of the subject-matter of a controversy, could not, by virtue of section 736, Rev. St., acquire and exercise jurisdiction by the issuance of a writ of mandamus and cause the same to be served upon the party whom it was sought to force to do some act; 'the refusal or failure to do which being the subject of complaint. In the case of Bath County v. Amy, supra, the Supreme Court, after reviewing McIntire v. Wood, McClung v. Silliman, and Kendall v. U. S., 12 Pet. 524, 9 L. Ed. 1181, announced the rule that the power to issue a writ of mandamus as an original and independent proceeding does not therein belong to the Circuit Court, and approving the holding in the Silliman Case, supra, that the power to issue writs of mandamus was authorized by section 716, Rev. St., only in cases where the jurisdiction already existed, and not where it is to be created or acquired by means of the writ proposed to be sued out. “In other words, the writ cannot be made to confer a jurisdiction which the Circuit Court would not have without it. It is authorized only when ancillary to a jurisdiction already acquired.” To the same effect is Rosenbaum v. Bauer, supra.

In the case of the United States v. Plumer, 27 Fed. Cas. No. 16,-056, it was held that section 716, Rev. St., did not authorize the issuance of a writ of error to review the judgment of a District Court [68]*68in a criminal case, when such authority had not been given the Circuit Court by the judiciary act. In that case the defendant had been indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced, and the right of appeal lost by the waiver of the motion for. a new trial, and the court said:

“Completed, as'the proceedings in this case were, the Circuit Court, af the date of this application, had no more power over it than if the indictment had not been found.”

Certainly, section 716, Rev. St., does not authorize the court to reacquire jurisdiction of á'case thus finally disposed of, or to acquire original jurisdiction of the subject-matter of a controversy when there is none conferred by law.' As is well said by counsel for the government :

“These cases upon which the defendants rely as a proper construction of this section are to be distinguished upon the ground that they merely deny the right to enlarge the jurisdiction of the court as to the subject-matter of litigation by the issuance of any writ under section 716.”

It was held, in the Standard Oil Case, supra, that the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and, in order to enable the court to exercise that jurisdiction, it was necessary to issue the summons under section 716, Rev. St., as was done in that case. The jurisdiction existed; but, in order to exercise it, the defendant must be brought before the court, and it became necessary for that purpose to resort to the power granted by Congress in section 716, Rev. St. It was not necessary, in order to acquire jurisdiction of the case, to resort to section 716, because jurisdiction over the offense charged in the indictment was conferred by the commerce act. It was necessary to resort to section 716 in order to. enable the court to exercise the jurisdiction conferred, by Congress under the commerce act.

Able counsel for defendants, it seems to us, virtually concede this proposition in their brief. There it is said that:

“The statute does not authorize writs to be issued under the general power to issue ‘all other writs’ in order to acquire jurisdiction. The jurisdiction must already exist in order for writs to issue under this power. The ‘necessity’ of the statute is a judicial one. When some hind of writ that is reasonable and proper is necessary in order for the court to exercise its jurisdiction (dp what in justice ought to be done), it may issue.”

The necessity is as imperative to issue summons for the resident .defendant corporations before the .court can exercise its jurisdiction in the trial of this case as it is to issue summons for the foreign corporations. The issuance of the writ in neither case is necessary in order to acquire jurisdiction of the case, but it is necessary in both cases to enable the court to exercise the jurisdiction it has.

In the excerpt quoted from brief of defendant’s counsel, it is stated that:

“The jurisdiction must already exist in order for writs to issue under this power” — meaning section 716.

If by this is meant that jurisdiction must exist over the defendant, then the issuance of summons would be useless; but if it is meant that jurisdiction of the subject-matter must exist before summons can issue under section 716, Rev. St., then the answer is that that is [69]*69precisely the condition in this case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Grand Jury Investigation
315 F. Supp. 3d 602 (D.C. Circuit, 2018)
Dwire v. State
381 N.W.2d 871 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
United States v. Lill
511 F. Supp. 50 (S.D. West Virginia, 1980)
United States v. Badalamenti
394 F. Supp. 807 (D. New Jersey, 1975)
United States v. Crispino
392 F. Supp. 764 (S.D. New York, 1975)
United States v. Wrigley
392 F. Supp. 9 (W.D. Missouri, 1975)
United States v. Williams
65 F.R.D. 422 (W.D. Missouri, 1974)
Corbin v. Broadman
433 P.2d 289 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1967)
People v. Minet
271 A.D.2d 345 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1946)
United States v. 1,960 Acres of Land
54 F. Supp. 867 (S.D. California, 1944)
Vlachos v. United States
90 Ct. Cl. 165 (Court of Claims, 1940)
Coblentz v. State
166 A. 45 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1933)
United States v. Phelps Bros. & Co.
56 F.2d 742 (Second Circuit, 1932)
United States v. Goldman
28 F.2d 424 (D. Connecticut, 1928)
United States v. Huston
28 F.2d 451 (N.D. Ohio, 1928)
Albrecht v. United States
273 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1927)
United States v. Philadelphia & R. Ry. Co.
237 F. 292 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1916)
May v. United States
236 F. 495 (Eighth Circuit, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 F. 66, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 5218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-virginia-carolina-chemical-co-circtmdtn-1908.