Camden Interstate Ry. Co. v. City of Catlettsburg

Citations

• 129 F. 421
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4756

Syllabus

<p>1. Jurisdiction oe Federal Courts — Suit against State.</p> <p>A municipal corporation is not an agency of the state in such sense that a suit against it is one against the state within the meaning of the eleventh constitutional amendment, excluding such suits from federal jurisdiction.</p> <p>2. Same — Enjoining Proceedings in State Court.</p> <p>Under Rev. St. U. S. § 720 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 581], prohibiting federal courts from granting an injunction to stay proceedings in a state court, a federal court Is without jurisdiction to enjoin the further prosecution of criminal proceedings instituted by a city for the violation of an ordinance, although such section does not deprive it of jurisdiction to enjoin threatened proceedings, which have not yet been commenced.</p> <p>H 1. Federal jurisdiction of suits against state, see note to Tindall v. Wesley, 13 C. C. A. 165.</p> <p>If 2. Federal courts enjoining proceedings in state courts, see notes to Garner v. Second Nat. Bank, 16 C. C. A. 90; Central Trust Co. v. Grantham, 27 a O. A. 575.</p> <p>3. Equity Jurisdiction — Enjoining Criminal Proceedings.</p> <p>A court of equity has no power to enjoin the institution or prosecution of criminal proceedings, unless they are instituted by a party to a suit already pending before it, and to try the same right that is in issue therein, or to prohibit the invasion of rights of property by the enforcement of an unconstitutional law.</p> <p>4. Same.</p> <p>The grant to a railroad company of the right to construct its road on the streets of a city does not vest it with property rights which render unconstitutional a subsequent law or ordinance enacted in the exercise of the police power of the state to secure the safety of the public by requiring the company to maintain flagmen at street crossings, and the prosecution of criminal proceedings for the enforcement of such a law or ordinance cannot be enjoined by a court of equity.</p> <p>13. Restraining criminal prosecution