Nathan Clifford

“ Numerous cases, also, are cited by the counsel of the present plaintiffs, applicable to the judgments or decrees of a court exercising original jurisdiction, which assert the general rule that no man shall be condemned i his person or property without notice, and an opportunity to make his defence. And some of them go much further, and lay down the rule as applicable to the inception of the suit, that notice by publication, is insufficient to support the judgment in any jurisdiction, except in the courts of the State where it was rendered. ”

“ Suits cannot, under the judiciary act, be commenced against the United States; and yet writs of error, accompanied by citations, have uniformly issued for the removal of judgments recovered in favor of the United States into this court for re-examination. Such cases are of daily occurrence, and the judgments are here reversed or affirmed, as they are with or without error; and it has never been supposed that the writ of error in such cases, though sometimes involving large amounts, was a suit against the United States. ”

“ It is insisted by the plaintiffs in error that the court erred in charging the jury that the record offered in evidence was conclusive proof as to the title of the slaves in controversy, and of the value of their hire to the date of the decree. That theory is based upon certain facts which are apparent in the record of that suit, and the question is raised both by the instructions given to the jury and by the refusal of the court to charge as requested. ”

“ Judgment in that case had been rendered without any sufficient notice, either actual or constructive, and of course it was held to be irregular; but the opinion of the court clearly recognises the principle that constructive notice in certain cases may be sufficient to bind the party. Every person, as this court said in the case of the Mary, 9 Cran., 444, may make himself a party to an admiralty proceeding, and appeal from the sentence; but notice of the controversy is necessary, in order to enable him to become a party. ”

“ Suit was brought against them in a subordinate court of the latter State, and after three years' litigation, and when they had succeeded in dismissing the bill of complaint, they removed to Texas, carrying the slaves with them, although they knew the complainants intended to seek a revision of the decree in the appellate court. All of the equities of the case are therefore with the present defendants. Where a court has jurisdiction it has a right to decide every question which occurs in the cause ”

“ Leave was subsequently granted to the plaintiffs to amend their petition, and on the twenty-sixth day of January, 1858, they filed an amendment to the same, alleging that they were citizens of the State of Tennessee, and that the defendants were citizens of the State of Texas. ”