Citizens' Bank v. Cannon

Citations

• 164 U.S. 319
• 17 S. Ct. 89
• 41 L. Ed. 451
• 1896 U.S. LEXIS 1865

Syllabus

<p>Jurisdiction cannot be conferred on a Circuit Court of the United States, by joining in one bill against distinct defendants claims, no one of which reaches the jurisdictional amount.</p> <p>In proceedings under a bill to enjoin the collection of taxes for. a series of years, where the proof only shows the amount of the assessment for one year, which is below the jurisdictional amount, it cannot be assumed, in order to confer jurisdiction, that the assessment for each of the other years was for it liké amount.</p> <p>Although, as a general rule, an appeal will not lie in a matter of costs alone, where an appeal is taken on other grounds as well, and not on the sole ground that costs were wrongfully awarded, this court can determine whether a Circuit Court, dismissing a suit for want'of jurisdiction, can give a decree for costs, including a fee to the defendants’ counsel in the nature of a penalty; and it decides that the decree in this case was erro- , neous in that particular.</p> <p>When a Circuit Court dismisses a bill for want of jurisdiction it is without power to decree the payment of costs arid penalties.</p>