Ames and Others v. State of Kansas Ex Rel. Johnston. Kansas Pac. Ry Co. v. Same

Citations

• 111 U.S. 449
• 28 L. Ed. 482
• 4 S. Ct. 437
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1802

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law — Quo Warranto — Removal of Causes — Statutes.</p> <p>The remedy by information in the nature of quo warranto, though criminal in form, is in effect a civil proceeding.</p> <p>A statute abolishing the common-law proceeding by information in the nature of quo warranto, and authorizing an action to be brought in cases in which that remedy was applicable, makes the proceeding a civil action for the enforcement of a civil right, subject to removal from State courts to the courts of the United States when other circumstances permit.</p> <p>Proceedings by a State against a corporation created under its own laws, in the nature of quo warranto for the abandonment, relinquishment and surrender of its powers to another corporation with which it has been consolidated under a law of the United States, and proceedings against the directors of said consolidated company for usurping the powers of such State corporation are, when in the form of civil actions, suits arising under the laws of the United States within the meaning of the acts regulating the removal of causes.</p> <p>When a suit brought by a State in one of its own courts against a corporation amenable to its own process, to try the right of the corporation to exercise corporate powers within the territorial limits of the State, presents a case arising under the laws of the United States, it may be removed to the Circuit Court of the United States if the other jurisdictionaT conditions exist.</p> <p>In view of the practical construction put upon the Constitution by Congress and the courts in the statutes and decisions cited in the opinion, the Court is unwilling to Say that it is not within the power of Congress to grant to inferior courts of the United States jurisdiction in cases where the Supreme Court has been vested by the Constitution with original jurisdiction.</p> <p>The judiciary act of March 3d, 1875,18 Stat. 470, does not confer upon Circuit Courts jurisdiction over causes in which the j