by John Marshall Harlan

“ Patterson, the opinion proceeds: 'The fact that the Colorado statute provides for the ascertainment of damages by a commission of three freeholders, unless, at the hearing, a defendant shall demand a jury, does not make the proceeding from its commencement any the less a suit at law within the meaning of the Constitution and acts of Congress and the previous decisions of the court. . . . It is an adversary judicial proceeding from the beginning. The appointment of commissioners to ascertain the compensation is only one of the modes by which it is to be determined. ”

“ If a case be a removable one, that is, if the suit, in its nature, be one of which the circuit court could rightfully take jurisdiction, then, upon the filing of a petition for removal, in due time, with a sufficient bond, the case is, in law, removed, and the state court in which it is pending will lose jurisdiction to proceed further, and all subsequent proceedings in that court will be void. ”

“ The circuit court, recognizing the right of the traction company to appropriate the land in question, if necessary for its purposes, could do all that is required by the Kentucky statute, and meet fully the ends of justice. Besides, a court always looks to substance, and not to mere forms. Mere forms are not of vital consequence in cases of condemnation. ”

“ It is an attempt to enforce a legal right.'
Two cases very much in point are Mississippi & R. River Boom Co. v. Patterson, 98 U.S. 403, 25 L. ed. 206, and Searl v. School Dist. No. 2, 124 U.S. 197, 31 L. ed. 415, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 460. ”