Morrison Waite

“ Dickinson, 108 U.S. 165, S.C.. 2 SUP. CT. REP. 424, it was decided, on full consideration, that our jurisdiction for the review of the judgments and decrees of the circuit courts in this class of cases depends on the value of the matter in dispute here, and that it is the actual matter in dispute, as shown by the whole record, and not the ad damnum alone which governs. Here the recovery against the company was less than $5,000, and that, according to all the cases which were fully collected and commented on in Hilton v. Dickinson, it is not of itself enough to give us jurisdiction. ”

“ As to the second, the record shows that while the claim in the pleadings was for $1,833.42, the evidence introduced in support of it only tended to prove that there was $61.10 due from Higgins on that account. The dispute in this court, therefore, according to the record, is (1) as to the right of Higgins to retain his judgment against the company for $3,333.92; and (2) as to the right of the company to recover $61.10 from Higgins. ”