Judicial decree

“ The mandate admits of no other conclusion, than that the action of the circuit court on a bill or petitions like the present, is wholly without legitimate power or jurisdiction, and their whole proceedings 'coram non judice;' if so, it follows that their decree is not a judicial act, entitled to the least respect in any court. ”

“ If his bill begins a new litigation, the parties against whom he seeks relief are entitled to notice thereof, and without it they will not be bound; for the decree of a court rendered against a party who has not been heard, and has had no chance to be heard, is not a judicial determination of his rights, and is not entitled to respect in any other court. ”

“ As we are clearly of opinion that we have no jurisdiction of the case for the second reason it is unnecessary to consider the first. Obviously, there was no final decree. The only decree rendered in the Supreme Court was that the injunction of the court below be dissolved. ”

“ It is not strictly correct to say that, if the jurisdiction over the subject-matter and the parties exists in a particular case, any defect in the decree rendered can only be taken advantage of an appeal or by direct proceedings. That jurisdiction may exist and yet the decree may be so variant from that which the court was authorized to pronounce as to be void on its face. If the law, for example, authorize a pecuniary fine, the court cannot award imprisonment. If the law directs only damages to be assessed, the court cannot decree a specific performance. ”

“ Without going into the merits of the case, the counsel for the plaintiffs contend, that the decree ought to be reversed, because it appears to have been pronounced in part on parol testimony, which has not been introduced into the record, and because the decree was made when the parties interested were not all before the Court.
The laws of the United States have always proceeded on the supposition, that in revising decrees in Chancery, the facts, as well as the law, should be laid before this Court. ”

“ The judgment of the Federal court is not mentioned or alluded to in the proceedings in the State court. Neither plaintiff nor defendant in the Federal court are made parties to the suit in the State court. Nor is any decree rendered touching its process or designed to interfere with it. All the ordinary writs, and all the ordinary powers of a court in a judgment at law, may be exhausted by the Federal court without the possibility of any collision between that court and the decree of the State court. ”

“ It is not pretended that the circuit court has not jurisdiction of this case, as one between proper parties, touching a proper subject matter of controversy; nor can it be doubted that the jurisdiction of this court is equally clear. A final decree has been rendered, an appeal regularly taken, by parties affected by the decree; who, having given the requisite security, have a right to be heard on all matters appealed from, to ask a reversal and a decree in their favour. ”

“ Should Congress, in the execution of its powers, adopt measures which are prohibited by the Constitution, or should Congress, under the pretext of executing its powers, pass laws for the accomplishment of objects not intrusted to the Government, it would become the painful duty of this tribunal, should a case requiring such a decision come before it, to say that such an act was not the law of the land. But where the law is not prohibited, and is really calculated to effect any of the objects intrusted to the Government, to undertake here to inquire into the decree of its necessity would be to pass the line which circumscribes the judicial department and to tread on legislative ground. ”

“ In such cases, upon an appeal, not from the final decree, but only from an order in execution thereof, the court will not examine the record, prior to such decree, to see whether the petition for removal was filed in due time, or whether it makes a case of federal jurisdiction, by reason of the presence in the suit of a controversy between citizens of different states, but will assume that the final decree, being passed by a court of general jurisdiction, and not showing upon its face a want of jurisdiction as to subject-matter or parties, was within the power of the court to render. ”

“ We are left wholly in the dark as to these important particulars, and, under these circumstances, everything must be presumed against the pleader. We are bound only to inquire whether a suit to which two citizens of the same state were originally plaintiff and defendant could possibly have been removed to the federal court. The presumption is that the court did have jurisdiction, and that its decree is valid, and, assuming for the present that the court may attack it collaterally, the burden is clearly upon the plaintiffs in this case to show that the decree was void. ”

“ Had the decree, therefore, been rendered in the subordinate court before the appeal, the right of the plaintiffs below to recover in this suit would have been beyond question, unless there is some other error in the record. Courts of general jurisdiction are presumed to act by right, and not by wrong, unless it clearly appears that they have transcended their powers. ”

“ The parties, or either of them, may, before September 1, 1965, submit a proposed decree to carry this opinion into effect, failing which the Court will prepare and enter an appropriate decree at the next Term of Court.
It is so ordered. ”

“ In this country the matter is usually regulated by statute, or rules of court, and generally speaking an appeal, upon giving the security required by law, (when security is required,) suspends further proceedings, and operates as a supersedeas of execution. This, as we have seen, is the case in the circuit courts of the United States. But the decree itself, without further proceedings, may have an intrinsic effect which can only be suspended by an affirmative order either of the court which makes the decree, or of the appellate tribunal. ”

“ If the state is not a party, there is no party against whom a decree can be made. No person in his natural capacity is brought before the Court as defendant. This not being a proceeding against the thing, but against the person, a person capable of appearing as defendant, against whom a decree can be pronounced, must be a party to the cause before a decree can be regularly pronounced. ”

“ The case, after trial in the district court, passed to the supreme court of the state, by which a final decree was entered for a specific performance. To reverse such decree this proceeding in error has been brought. ”

“ A decree, to be final for the purposes of appeal, must leave the case in such a condition that, if there be an affirmance in this court, the court below will have nothing to do but execute the decree it has already entered. ”

“ If a decree is made, which is intended to bind them, it is manifestly unjust to do this when they are not parties to the suit, and have no opportunity to be heard. But as the decree cannot bind them, the court cannot for that very reason afford the relief asked, to the other parties. ”

“ The respondents' case and the decision below are rested heavily on this argument that the Commission is invading the province of the judiciary. The Court of Appeals held that the Commission's order of September 2, 1947, represented an unauthorized attempt to enforce that court's decree. It pointed out that the statute had made the court's own jurisdiction of the proceeding 'exclusive' and its own decree final. ”

“ The most usual mode under the chancery practice, unaffected by statute, is to compel the defendant, in person, to convey to plaintiff, or to have such conveyance made in his name, by a commissioner appointed by the court for that purpose. In some of the States it is provided by statute that a decree of the court shall operate as a conveyance where it is so expressed in the decree, and additional relief may be granted by giving possession of the land to plaintiff, quieting his title as against defendants, and enjoining them from asserting theirs. ”

“ A preliminary injunction was denied by the District Court and on appeal the decree was affirmed, and the appellant's counsel consenting if the Court decided that the State Court had jurisdiction, the bill was dismissed. 29 F. (2d) 31. ”

“ Upon a bill for the removal of a cloud upon title, as upon a bill for the specific performance of an agreement to convey, the decree, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, is clearly not a judgment in rem, establishing a title in land, but operates in personam only, by restraining the defendant from asserting his claim, and directing him to deliver up his deed to be canceled, or to execute a relief to the plaintiff. ”

“ The affirmative form of this proposition is that an appeal or writ of error shall be allowed in cases arising under this act where the amount in controversy exceeds $2000. This would include all cases, and if so important a portion of the Circuit Court's jurisdiction was intended to be excepted, we should expect to find a special exclusion.
2. A decree which changes and transfers the right of property in litigation is a final decree, for if otherwise irreparable injury would be incurred before redress could be had. ”

“ If a single judge, thus acting without jurisdiction, undertakes to enter an interlocutory injunction or a final decree, either dismissing the bill on the merits or granting a permanent injunction, no appeal lies from such an order or decree to this Court, as the statute plainly contemplates such a direct appeal only in the case of an order or decree entered by a court composed of three judges in accordance with the statutory requirement. ”