“ But, according to the course of proceeding under this head in equity, in order to entitle the party to the remedy, a case must be presented appropriate for the exercise of judicial power; the rights in danger, as we have seen, must be rights of persons or property, not merely political rights, which do not belong to the jurisdiction of a court, either in law or in equity.'
In Marye v. ”

“ Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 43 S.C.t. 597, 67 L. Ed. 1078, the court recognized and gave effect to the reasoning and principle of those cases by dismissing a bill brought by the commonwealth of Massachusetts to restrain executive officers from giving effect to an act of Congress alleged to be an unconstitutional usurpation of power, but not shown to affect prejudicially any proprietary or other right of the state subject to judicial cognizance. ”

“ The bill is directed against many provisions of the act, especially those requiring permits and licenses and subjecting licensees to various restrictions and conditions and those relating to projects for utilizing the waters in the development of power, and it directly alleges that they all go beyond the power of Congress and impinge on that of the state. ”

“ There must be a litigation upon actual transactions between real parties, growing out of a controversy affecting legal or equitable rights as to person or property. All questions of law arising in such cases are judicially determinable. ”

“ As respects the state of New Jersey, the act may be adequately described for present purposes by stating that it relates particularly to navigable waters; subjects their improvement and utilization for purposes of navigation and developing power to stated restrictions and supervision by a public commission, which it creates; requires that such operations be carried on under preliminary permits and long-term licenses obtained from the commission and conditioned on compliance with the restrictions ”

“ The defendants respond with a motion to dismiss, on the ground, among others, that the bill does not present a case or controversy appropriate for the exertion of judicial power, but only an abstract question respecting the relative authority of Congress and the state in dealing with such waters. ”

“ Both were brought to prevent the enforcement of a West Virginia statute restricting the carrying of natural gas from that state into others. The gas had been for several years carried in large and continuous volume through pipe lines into Pennsylvania and Ohio, and those states had come to be largely dependent on it as a fuel for public institutions and otherwise. ”

“ In the court of first instance the plaintiff obtained a decree, but this court reversed it and directed a dismissal of the bill for want of jurisdiction, saying:
'The bill as framed, therefore, calls for a declaration of an abstract character, that the contract set out requiring coupons to be received in payment of taxes and debts due to the state is valid; that the statutes of the General Assembly of Virginia impairing its obligations are con trary to the Constitution of the United States, and therefore void ”