Edward Douglass White

“ The fact that the court below, in the nature of things, must be constantly called upon to apply and enforce laws of the United States, local in character, admonishes us that when called upon to determine whether the right to an appeal exists, to be more than usually circumspect to see to it that the authority to review, conferred in one class of cases, be not permitted to embrace the other and large class of cases to which it does not extend. ”

“ Although it was thus concluded that as, by virtue of the statute invoked by the defendant, there was no lien and no jurisdiction, it was nevertheless decided that, in view of the recitals in the answer, that the agreement leading up to the interlocutory decree was equivalent to the consent by the parties that the court decide the case, not upon a question of contract or the right to a lien arising from it, since that was disposed of by the statute, but by way of quantum meruit. ”

“ Coming to examine that question, it was held that by inaction or neglect the plaintiffs had lost their rights, if any, to recover on a quantum meruit, as the result of the inaction or neglect, as other attorneys had been employed and had recovered the judgment upon which the money had been collected. ”