Robert Cooper Grier

“ It is a mere subtlety to say that because the decree, deciding the validity of the patent and the title of the complainants in their favor, ordered no relief; but, on the contrary, for a different reason, directed their bill to be dismissed, that, therefore, the decision of the validity of the patent and the title of the complainants is mere recital, and not a substantial part of the decree, and proper subject of an appeal. The test is this: Are the validity of the patent and the title of the complainants now open to dispute by the defendants in the Circuit Court? Certainly they are not. ”

“ Looking at the case as exhibited to us by the record, it appears to be an appeal by respondents from a decree dismissing the complainant's bill with costs. It often happens that a court may decree in favor of a complainant, but not to the extent prayed for in his bill, and he may have just cause of appeal on that account. ”

“ A party cannot have a decree of the Circuit Court reviewed by this court two, three, or more times, by appealing from different parts of the decree at different times. Every ground which he might have urged on the hearing of the first appeal, will be deemed to have been made by him, or if not made, to have been abandoned. ”