Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States Volume 18 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ...as the proceedings of courts of general jurisdiction. Having acquired jurisdiction apparently--that is, the jurisdictional fact being declared established--property is sold by the decree of the court. Now, would it not be competent for a purchaser from the man adjudged to be dead to show, in a suit brought by the purchaser under the decree of the court, that the man was alive all the time, and to make bodily profert of him in court? or must the doctrine of the court below prevail, and the man be held to be dead notwithstanding his vocal disclaimer? Such cases show the error of the ruling of the court below. The true doctrine is that the jurisdictional fact must always be open to inquiry; for if the court has in truth no jurisdiction, it cannot cut off inquiry into its authority. In Williamson v. Berry, the Supreme Court of the United States says: "We concur that neither orders nor decrees in chancery can be reviewed as a whole in a collateral way. But it is an equally well-settled rule in jurisprudence, that the jurisdiction of any court exercising authority over a subject, may be inquired into in every other court, when the proceedings in the former are relied upon, and brought before tho latter, by a party claiming Argument for the plaintiff in error. the benefit of such proceedings. The rule prevails whether the decree or judgment has been given in a court of admiralty, chancer', ecclesiastical court, or court of common law, or whether the point ruled has arisen under the laws of nations, the practice in chancery, or the municipal laws of States." In support of this doctrine numerous cases are cited. In Starbuck v. Murray, Marey, J., dissipates the doctrine contended for in the court below; and in that case there was an allegation that...