Cooke v. Avery

Citations

• 147 U.S. 375
• 13 S. Ct. 340
• 37 L. Ed. 209
• 1893 U.S. LEXIS 2169

Syllabus

<p>In view of the requirements of Rev. Stat. § 953, respecting the authentication of bills of exceptions, it will be assumed, where a bill is certified by a District Judge holding Circuit Court, that the Circuit Justice and Cir- • cuit Judge were not present at the trial, unless the record clearly and affirmatively shows the contrary.</p> <p>When it appears that some title, right, privilege or immunity, on which the recovery depends, will be defeated by one construction of the Constitution or a law of the United States, or sustained by the opposite construction, the case is 'one arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States.</p> <p>When á party, on the first trial of a cause in a Circuit Court, sets up such a right as the ground of Federal jurisdiction, and the jurisdiction is sustained, he cannot be permitted, on the second trial, to oust the jurisdiction by contending that no such right is in controversy.</p> <p>Where a plaintiffs title rests upon the validity of a lien claimed to have been acquired under a judgment of a Circuit Court of the United States, the disposition of the issue depends upon the laws of the United States and the rules of its courts, and a Federal court has jurisdiction.</p> <p>An index to an abstract of judgments in Texas, made under its laws for acquir’ng judgment liens, is sufficient, which gives the defendants’ name or names correctly, and the.names of the plaintiffs by a partnership title. .</p> <p>In Texas, in trespass to try title, the defendant cannot question the validity of his grantor’s title at the time of the conveyance to him when the plaintiff claims under the same grantor, unless he claims under a paramount title.</p> <p>If the defendant in such an action pleads his title specially, he waives the general issue, and is confined to the defence specially pleaded.</p> <p>The defendant in such an action, not having been in possession of the land in dispute for twelve months next before the commencement of the , - acti