George Shiras, Jr.

“ Where it appears by the record that the judgment of the state court might have been based either upon a law which would raise a question of repugnancy to the constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States, or upon some other independent ground, and it appears that the court did in fact base its judgment on such independent ground, and not on the law raising the federal question, this court will not take jurisdiction of the case, even though it might think the position of the state court an unsound one. ”

“ The defendants in the trial court depended on a discharge obtained by them under regular proceedings under the insolvency statutes of Massachusetts. This defense the plaintiffs met by alleging that the statutes under which the defendants had procured their discharge had been enacted after the promissory note sued on had been executed and delivered, and that to give effect to a discharge obtained under such subsequent laws would impair the obligation of a contract, within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. ”

“ Different phases of the question were presented, and the same conclusion was reached, in Murray v. Charleston, 96 U.S. 432, 441; Jenkins v. Loewenthal, 110 U.S. 222, 3 Sup. Ct. Rep. 638; Hale v. Akers, 132 U.S. 554, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 171. ”