Edward Douglass White

“ In other words, we are of the opinion that, conceding that the appliances and boats of the Construction Company were in the river at the points stated without authority, that fact did not endow the Steamboat Company with a license to become a wrongdoer free from responsibility, and did not exempt it, therefore, from liability for the consequences of a wrong inflicted solely by its own negligence, not contributed to in any way by the Construction Company. ”

“ It is elementary that where the judgment of a state court which is under review by this court rests upon two or more grounds, one or more of which are Federal and others of which are not Federal, because resting solely upon state grounds independent of Federal rights, and which state grounds are therefore completely adequate to sustain the judgment under consideration, no jurisdiction obtains to review. ”

“ Because, conceding that the first proposition, that is, the rightfulness of the acts of the company in placing its appliances in the stream, involves Federal questions which are reviewable, the second proposition upon which the court based its decision, that is, the happening of the accident solely as the result of the negligent conduct of the Steamboat Company, is an independent state ground, broad enough to sustain the judgment without the necessity of considering the Federal question involved in the first proposition. ”