Hugo Black

“ A rational system of jurisprudence should not attach inexorable consequences to failure to guess right on a legal question for the solution of which neither statutes nor court opinions have provided even a reasonably certain guide. Where, as here, arguments as to which of two decrees is 'final' may be considered relatively even, an appellate court should be free to find 'finality' in either decree appealed from. ”

“ Finality and appealability have provided judges, lawyers, and commentators with a perpetual subject for debate. [1] But litigants have too often been thrown out of court because their lawyers failed to guess that an order would be held 'final' by an appellate court. ”

“ By today's decision the creditors of the bankrupt corporation, who were not represented in the trial below, are deprived of their only opportunity to appeal.↑ Paragraph 3 of the 1948 decree reads:↑ The creditors have contended that the interests of the corporation were not adequately represented at the trial because the corporation attorney regarded it as immaterial whether the corporation or Rinke subscribers obtained the recovery.↑ The possible distinctions between finality as to Dickinson and as to Petroleum, listed by the court in footnote 6 of its opinion, seem unsubstantial. ”