Melville Fuller

“ If we were of a different opinion, and, entertaining jurisdiction, were to reverse the judgment of the supreme court of South Carolina, we should do it upon the ground that that court erred in the construction of Mrs. Harris' will, and not upon any ground connected with the judgment of the probate court of North Carolina, which could not and did not determine that question. Counsel says that the position of the plaintiff in error is 'that the decision of the state court necessarily involved the question whether the will of Mrs. ”

“ To give this court jursidiction of a writ of error to a state court, it must appear affirmatively, not only that a federal question was presented for decision to the highest court of the state having jurisdiction, but that its decision was necessary to the determination of the cause, and that it was actually decided, or that the judgment as rendered could not have been given without deciding it. Water-Works Co. ”