Clough v. Curtis

Citations

• 134 U.S. 361
• 10 S. Ct. 573
• 33 L. Ed. 945
• 1890 U.S. LEXIS 1976

Syllabus

<p>The jurisdiction of the several; courts of the Territory of Idaho is a rightful subject of legislation by the territorial legislature.</p> <p>An act of the territorial legislature conferring upon the Supreme Court of the Territory original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandate, review, prohibition, habeas corpus and all writs necessary to its appellate juris- . diction is not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or with any act of Congress.</p> <p>Section 1910 of the Revised Statutes does not forbid a territorial legislature from conferring original jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court of the Territory in' such cases.</p> <p>This court has jurisdiction over judgments of a territorial court: (1) denying, an application for a, writ of mandamus to compel the secretary of the Territory to record certain proceedings as part of the proceedings of a session of the legislature of the Territory; and (2) denying an application for a like writ to compel the chief clerk of the House of Representatives of the Territory to bring'his.minutes and journal's into-the court in order that they may be there corrected in the presence of the court; and it is held that there wws no error in denying applications for such writs of mandamus, when'they were not asked for by one claiming to have a beneficial interest in sustaining or defeating the measures Which it was sought to have incorporated into the official records. ■</p> <p>The courts of the United- States cannot be required, ip, a case -involving no private interest, to determine whether particular bodies, assuming to exercise legislative functions, constitute a lawful legislative assembly.</p>