Morrison Waite

“ It grows out of the duty which in law a common carrier owes to the public at large, and is no more secured by the constitution than are any other of the ordinary transactions of business. Whether the railroad company is excused from the performance of that duty by the statute on which it relies may depend on the constitution. If the statute is constitutional, the plaintiffs are deprived of the right which they would otherwise have had in law, but if not, the railway company must carry for them. ”

“ Upon the face of this record it is apparent the actual value of the matter in dispute is not sufficient to give us jurisdiction. It is now well settled that our jurisdiction in an action upon a money demand is governed by the value of the actual matter in dispute in this court, as shown by the whole record, and not by the damages claimed or the prayer for judgment alone. ”

“ Here the stipulation which was put on file, taken in connection with the time it was made, shows unmistakably the purpose of the amendment was to make a case for our jurisdiction. In Smith v. Greenhow, 109 U.S. 669, S.C.. 3 Sup. Ct. Rep. 421, the action begun in a state court was trespass for taking and carrying away personal property of the value of $100, but the damages were laid at $6,000. On the removal of the case to the circuit court of the United States it was remanded, on the ground that the case was not one arising under the constitution or laws of the United States. ”