Melville Fuller

“ By the eleventh section of the judiciary act of 1789 it was expressly provided that the circuit courts could not take cognizance of a suit to recover the contents of any promissory note or other chose in action in favor of an assignee, unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such court to recover the said contents, if no assignment had been, except in cases of foreign bills of exchange. ”

“ The same conclusion was reached by Mr. justice Miller in Wilson v. Knox Co., 43 Fed. 481; and Newgass v. New Orleans was cited with approval. We think the construction obviously correct, and that the case before us was properly disposed of. ”