Legal brief

“ Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress. ”

“ If an administrative determination of status has the effect of subjecting a person to legal obligations, whether embodied in statute or previously formulated administrative commands, or otherwise affecting legal rights, such a determination possesses the elements of a reviewable order. ”

“ Several specifically prohibit the solicitation of legal business for a lawyer by an agent or 'runner.' E.g., Conn.Gen.Stat., 1958, § 51-87; N.C.Gen.Stat., § 84-38 (1958 Repl.Vol.) ; Wis.Stat.Ann., § 256.295 (1) . About 25 States prohibit the authorized practice of law by corporations. American Bar Foundation, Unauthorized Practice Statute Book (1961) , 78-90.↑ Virginia's policy of promoting aid to indigent suitors is of long standing, see 2 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Boyd ed. 1950) , 628, and the decision of the state court in this case fully implements that policy.↑ The Court, p. ”

“ Justice FIELD, 'it appears from the inspection of the record of a court of general jurisdiction that the defendant, against whom a personal judgment or decree is rendered, was at the time of the alleged service without the territorial limits of the court, and thus beyond the reach of its process, and that he never appeared in the action, the presumption of jurisdiction over his person ceases, and the burden of establishing the jurisdiction is cast upon the party who invokes the benefit or protection of the judgment or decree. ”

“ We will first examine the correctness of the general position, that an action at law cannot be maintained upon a decree in equity; and will, in the next place, inquire how far the jurisdiction of the court pronouncing this decree, and the efficiency of its proceedings with reference to the parties before it, may be inferred or rightfully taken notice of, from its style or character, or from proper judicial knowledge of the subject-matter of its cognizance, independently of a particular special averment. ”

“ And be it Enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all written deeds, bargains, sales or conveyances, or contracts without writing, whatsoever, for conveying or transferring any property in any person, or to the service and labor of any person whatsoever, of more than twenty-one years of age, to a third person, except by order of some court of record for some crime, that has been, or hereafter shall be made, or by their own voluntary contract for a term not exceeding seven years, shall be and hereby are declared null and void. ”

“ If D have judgment against C, may he not lay an attachment in the hands of A, who holds a credit or chose in action against B for the benefit of C, especially if B. be out of the State?
2. The modern law recognizes the assignability of choses in action, operating an actual transfer proprio vigore of the title of the chose in action, or credit, from the assignor to the assignee, vesting the latter with all the rights of the former, the possession of the evidences, and the right to enforce the claim, as effectually as a bargain and a sale of lands. ”

“ Every person, firm and corporation shall be subject to the same penalty or penalties, civil or criminal, for failure to perform any such obligation or duty, or for doing a prohibited act, as if such obligation or duty arose from, or such act were prohibited in, the exercise of such right, power or duty by the officer, board, commission or institution, or deputy, inspector or subordinate thereof, designated in the respective laws which are to be administered by departments created by this chapter. ”

“ Proclamation at four court terms of a levy of a fine shall be a final end to an issue of land, tenements, or other hereditaments and the decision shall bind persons and their heirs, whether they have knowledge or not of the decision, except for women in covert [under the protection of a husband] who were not parties, persons under the age of twenty-one, in prison, out of the nation, or not of whole mind, who are not parties. ”

“ The act of 20th of April 1777, ch. 13, for the more speedy and effectual recovery of common-law fines and forfeited recognisances, provides, that where any fine shall be enforced by any court of record, for any common-law offence, on any person, it shall be lawful for the attorney-general, or either of his deputies, to order a writ of capias ad satisfaciendum, or a writ of fieri facias, to be issued for the recovery of the sum due thereon, on which writs such proceedings shall and may be had, as in cases where similar writs are issued on judgments obtained in personal suits. ”

“ Persons neglecting forfeit their rights, &c. a compensation shall be received, from such claimants at the rate of twenty-five cents for every hundred words. And the rights of such persons as shall neglect so doing, within the time limited by this act, shall, so far as they are derived from, or founded on, any act of Congress, ever after be barred, and become void, and the evidences of their claims never after admitted as evidence in any court of the United States, against any grant derived from the United States. ”

“ A person, undertaking or association of undertakings that attempts to execute, impose, implement and/or perform such an agreement, decision or practice shall be subject to the administrative and criminal penalties established by Title VI of the present law. ”

“ Where property in the hands of the receiver is claimed by another, the right may be tried by proper issues at law, by a reference to a master, or otherwise, as the court in its discretion may see fit to direct. ”

“ Private legislation.—Statutes are of two kinds, distinguishable as public and private. The distinguishing characteristic of a public Act is that judicial notice is taken of its existence, and it is therefore one of the sources of the general law. A private Act, on the other hand, is one which, owing to its limited scope, does not fall within the ordinary cognisance of the courts of justice, and will not be applied by them unless specially called to their notice by the parties interested. ”

“ The property or the status is treated as being what has been so declared or decreed. For judgments in personam, decreeing the payment of a certain sum, the test of competence for the present purpose is again that the person against whom it was pronounced was subject to the jurisdiction by nationality or domicile; the judgment may then be sued on as giving of itself a good title to the sum decreed by it to be paid. For domestic purposes the competence may exist on quite other grounds. ”

“ Certain provisions of the Civil Code and the Code of Practice, as well as a number of decisions of the supreme court of the state, are relied upon to support this view all which we shall now consider. ”

“ A consideration of the origin of the provisions at once demonstrates the unsoundness of the contention relied upon, establishes the correctness of the administrative construction which has prevailed from the beginning, and dispels the confusion and contradiction which necessarily result from the interpretation contended for. We need not specifically trace and develop the origin of the provisions, since it is expressly conceded in the argument for the appellant that 'the provisions of the acts of Congress . . . which are carried into the Revised Statutes as §§ 3407-3417, U.S.C.omp. ”

“ The sole duty and power of the court is to pass upon questions of law and to inquire judicially into the facts so far as necessary to ascertain the applicable rules of law. See Keller v. Potomac Elec. Co., 261 U.S. 428, 440, 43 S.C.t. 445, 67 L. Ed. 731. Under this procedure, the judgment to be awarded finally determines, subject to appeal, the validity of the ordinance authorizing the improvement, the limits of the benefit district, the method of apportioning benefits, and the validity of the proposed liens. ”

“ The decree treats the liability of the master or owner for an average contribution as an integral part of their special written contract of affreightment; and their failure to pay their share of average is disposed of as a breach of the express obligation. My opinion is, that the obligations are distinct, though intimately associated, and are referable to different principles of law, and in the judicial administration of the United States may be subject to distinct jurisdictions. ”

“ In 1 Comyns's Digest, Action upon Statute, F, it is said, 'In every case where a statute enacts or prohibits a thing for the benefit of a person, he shall have a remedy upon the same statute for the thing enacted for his advantage, or for the recompense of the wrong done to him contrary to said law,' confining the remedy to such things as are enacted for the benefit of the person suing.' See, also, Pheasant v. ”

“ No officer or member of any association or organization, and no association or organization participating or interested in a labor dispute, shall be held responsible or liable in any court of the United States for the unlawful acts of individual officers, members, or agents, except upon clear proof of actual participation in, or actual authorization of, such acts, or of ratification of such acts after actual knowledge thereof.' 47 Stat. ”

“ It is the judge in the reorganization proceeding who is to order payment of such reasonable administrative expenses and allowances in the prior proceeding as may be fixed by the court appointing the 'prior trustee.' Plainly the word 'reasonable' seems designed, by qualifying the action of the judge ordering the payment, to enable him to require tha allowances, which the statute permits the prior judge to fix, shall not exceed the limit of reasonableness. ”

“ In the English courts, when it is made to appear that property of the government ought, in justice, to contribute to a general average, or to salvage, it seems to be the usual course of proceeding for the proper officer of the government to consent in court that it may take jurisdiction of the matter. ”

“ Except as otherwise provided by Act of Congress, the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions, suits or proceedings commenced by the United States, or by any agency or officer thereof expressly authorized to sue by Act of Congress. ”

“ The superior court shall have jurisdiction in all criminal and penal cases, and exclusive cognisance of all capital cases, and shall have and exercise original jurisdiction, concurrently with the inferior courts, and exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases in which the amount in controversy shall be one hundred dollars or upwards. ”

“ So in the civil law, the rules as to the measure of damages pertain to the substantive law, no less than those declaring what damage is actionable; and rules determining the classes of agreements which will be specifically enforced are as clearly substantive as are those determining the agreements which will be enforced at all. To define procedure as concerned not with rights, but with remedies, is to confound the remedy with the process by which it is made available. ”

“ In some instances the courts have construed the imposition of a penalty as operating not to invalidate a contract but to create a tax upon non-compliance with the terms of the statute. The Interpretation Act 1889 provides an authentic interpretation for numerous words and phrases of frequent occurrence in statutes. In addition to these general provisions most statutes contain an interpretation clause or interpretation clauses dealing with special words or phrases. ”

“ It was inevitable that these provisions should call for judicial interpretation, and a considerable body of authority has grown up about the act. Where general words are used, it must always occur that, between the cases which are obviously within and those which are obviously without the words, there are many on the border line. ”

“ The seventy-first section of the act is the one which prescribes the conditions under which licenses shall be given.
The seventy-third section subjects all persons who neglect it, to fine and imprisonment. ”

“ The protection, of which it is the business of jurisprudence to find out and to describe the means, is that which is required by one member of the community against the other members. The members of the community, each of whom endeavours to have as much as possible of the objects of desire, will be disposed to take those objects one from another ”

“ No court or ministerial officer in this State shall ever have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any judgment, execution, or decree against the property set apart for such purpose, including such improvements as may be made thereon from time to time, except for taxes, for the purchase-money of the same, for labor done thereon, for material furnished therefor, or for the removal of incumbrances thereon. ”

“ We apply to the case, the laws and ordinances of the government under which the claim originated; and that rule which must be of universal application in the construction of grants, which is essential to their validity, that the thing granted should be so described as to be capable of being distinguished from other things of the same kind, or be capable of being ascertained by extraneous testimony The decree of the court below is affirmed. ”

“ That no ex post facto law, nor any law, impairing the obligations of contracts, or making any irrevocable or exclusive grants of special privileges or immunities, shall be passed by the Legislature; and every grant or franchise, privilege or immunity, shall forever remain subject to revocation, alteration or amendment. ”