Samuel Freeman Miller

“ It is not to be presumed that Congress, with a full knowledge of the history and traditions of the court, intended to confer jurisdiction over the State tribunals upon any question where their decisions had been theretofore regarded as conclusive-a jurisdiction demanded by no public necessity, and productive of no good results. ”

“ George Mason wrote that 'the judiciary of the United States is so constructed and extended as to absorb and destroy the judiciaries of the several States.' [12] In the Virginia convention he said that he was 'greatly mistaken if there be any limitation whatever with respect to the nature or jurisdiction of these (Federal) courts.' [13] Indeed, the historical fact is familiar that the enemies of the Constitution maintained that it established a consolidated government, and that the judiciary of the States would be overruled and absorbed. ”

“ But when we find that the State court had decided the Federal question erroneously, then to prevent a useless and profitless reversal, which can do the plaintiff in error no good, and can only embarrass and delay the defendant, we must so far look into the remainder of the record as to see whether the decision of the Federal question alone is sufficient to dispose of the case, or to require its reversal ”

“ That power extends, with such exceptions and under such regulations as Congress may provide, to judgments and decrees rendered by any Federal tribunal in suits which are brought therein, or which, pursuant to the legislation of Congress, are removed thereto, and may correct all errors in matter of law, and sometimes of fact. But the relations which the State courts sustain to this court are not those of an inferior court of the United States. Congress cannot impose duties upon them, nor invest them with judicial power. ”

“ Another consideration, not without weight in seeking after the intention of Congress, is found in the fact that where that body has clearly shown an intention to bring the whole of a case which arises under the constitutional provision as to its subject-matter under the jurisdiction of a Federal court, it has conferred its cognizance on Federal courts of original jurisdiction and not on the Supreme Court. ”

“ The writ of error is used to bring up for review all other cases, and when thus brought here the cases are not open for re-examination on their whole merits, but every controverted question of fact is excluded from consideration, and only such errors as this court can see that the inferior court committed, and not all of these, can be the subject of this court's corrective power. ”

“ It requires a very bold reach of thought, and a readiness to impute to Congress a radical and hazardous change of a policy vital in its essential nature to the independence of the State courts, to believe that that body contemplated, or intended, what is claimed, by the mere omission of a clause in the substituted statute, which may well be held to have been superfluous, or nearly so, in the old one. ”

“ It is to be remembered that there is not even a limitation as to the value in controversy in writs to the State courts as there is to the Circuit Courts; and it follows that there is no conceivable case so insignificant in amount or unimportant in principle that a perverse and obstinate man may not bring it to this court by the aid of a sagacious lawyer raising a Federal question in the record-a point which he may be wholly unable to support by the facts, or which he may well know will be decided against him the moment it is stated. ”

“ The twenty-fifth section was at one time denounced as unconstitutional by one class of statesmen and by courts, and attempts have been made by State laws to defeat its operation. The jurisdiction under it, however, has been so wisely and beneficently exercised, and has done so much to perpetuate, in its vigor and purity, the Constitution of the country, that it has finally commanded general acquiescence. No serious effort has been made in Congress to alter its essential provisions or impair their efficacy, nor, unless such be the effect of the act of 1867, to give them a broader scope. ”

“ That we might have all the aid which could be had from discussion of counsel, the court ordered a reargument of the case on three distinct questions which it propounded, and invited argument, both oral and written, from any counsel interested in them. This reargument was had, and the court was fortunate in obtaining the assistance of very eminent and very able jurists. The importance of the proposition under discussion justified us in delaying a decision until the present term, giving the judges the benefit of ample time for its most mature examination. ”

“ The intent to vest a general revisory power, which, since the adoption of the Constitution, has never been exerted over the State tribunals, should be expressed in clear and unmistakable terms.
It is not expressly given by the second section. The provision in each section touching the 'effect' of the writ of error and the omission of the last clause of the old section, coupled with the assumed fact that it either limited some power conferred by that provision, or prescribed the mode of exercising it, are the only grounds upon which the enlarged jurisdiction has been asserted. ”

“ No such reason nor any necessity exists for the decision by this court of other questions in those cases. The jurisdiction has been exercised for nearly a century without serious inconvenience to the due administration of justice. The State courts are the appropriate tribunals, as this court has repeatedly held, for the decision of questions arising under their local law, whether statutory or otherwise. And it is not lightly to be presumed that Congress acted upon a principle which implies a distrust of their integrity or of their ability to construe those laws correctly. ”

“ If it extends to the whole case then the court must re-examine the whole case, and if it re-examines it must decide the whole case. It is difficult to escape the logic of the argument if the first premise be conceded. But it is here the error lies. We are of opinion that upon a fair construction of the whole language of the section the jurisdiction conferred is limited to the decision of the questions mentioned in the statute, and, as a necessary consequence of this, to the exercise of such powers as may be necessary to cause the judgment in that decision to be respected. ”

“ Human ingenuity may be challenged to offer a reason why 'the judgment or decree' of the State court should be reversed here upon a point having no relation to, or connection with, the question, in the absence of which this court would confessedly have no jurisdiction whatever of the suit.
2. As to the results. The effects and consequences of the interpretation of the act for which the plaintiff in error asks, present a legitimate subject of inquiry. ”

“ As to the necessity for such extended jurisdiction. It is true that an inferior court of the United States, having exclusive original cognizance of suits by reason of their subject-matter, is fully authorized to pass upon any question arising in their progress, or involved in their adjudication; although such question may not depend upon a principle of Federal jurisprudence. Otherwise, the rights asserted could not be judicially enforced, as the injured party can resort to no other power. ”

“ That clause in express terms limited the power of the Supreme Court in reversing the judgment of a State court, to errors apparent on the face of the record and which respected questions, that for the sake of brevity, though not with strict verbal accuracy, we shall call Federal questions, namely, those in regard to the validity of construction of the Constitution, treaties, statutes, commissions, or authority of the Federal government. ”

“ Many of these are found to be immaterial, the case being reversed or affirmed on some important point which requires of itself a judgment without regard to other matters. There are errors also which may be sufficiently manifest of which the appellate court has no jurisdiction, as in regard to a motion for a new trial, or to quash an indictment, or for a continuance, or amendment of pleadings, or some other matter which, however important to the merits of the case, is within the exclusive discretion of the inferior court. ”

“ The claim of right here set up is one to be determined by the general principles of equity jurisprudence, and is unaffected by anything found in the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States. ”

“ In Wood v. United States, [8] the law of repeals by implication is thus rightly stated:
'It is not sufficient to establish that subsequent laws cover some or even all of the cases provided for by it, for they may be merely affirmative, or cumulative, or auxiliary. ”

“ One is enough, and that is that there was no breach of condition or trust, but on the contrary performance or execution. If there was any condition or trust, it was that the property should be conveyed to the United States for the purpose of a naval depot. ”

“ After retaining possession of the land for about ten years without building a navy yard, the United States abandoned that purpose, and by an act approved August 5th, 1854, ceded the property to the city of Memphis by its corporate name for the use and benefit of said city. ”

“ The case was now, April 2d and 3d, 1873, reargued by the same counsel for the plaintiff in error as before; Mr. P. Phillips, in addition, as amicus curiae, expressing his views orally, and the late Mr. B. R. Curtis, in the same character, having submitted some observations in print. [3]
I. The old twenty-fifth section is repealed. ”