Greely v. Townsend

Citations

• 25 Cal. 604
• 1864 Cal. LEXIS 77

Syllabus

<p>Writ of Error to the Supreme Court of the United States.—When a final judgment in a suit has been rendered in the highest Court of law or equity of a State in which a decision in the suit could be had, and a writ of error has been issued by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the United States, directed to the Judges of the Court in which the judgment was rendered, commanding that the record he sent before the Supreme Court of the United States to he there reviewed, the presiding Judge of the Court in which the judgment was rendered is not compelled, as a matter of right, to award a citation to the respondent to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States to maintain the validity of his judgment, hut he may look into the record for the purpose of determining whether in his opinion the judgment is one from which a writ of error lies, and if he determines that it is not, he may refuse the citation.</p> <p>Same.—The granting of a citation is not a mere ministerial act, hut one of judicial discretion.</p> <p>Power of State Legislature.—It is not within the constitutional power of a State Legislature to confer jurisdiction upon Federal Courts, or prescribe the means or mode of its exercise.</p> <p>Writ of Error from Judgment concerning Pueblo Lands.—A writ of error does not lie to the Supreme Court of the United States from a judgment rendered by the Supreme Court of this State, by which it is decided that the City of San Francisco was, at the date of the conquest and cession of California, and long prior thereto, a pueblo, and that as such pueblo she had a title to the lands within her general limits, and that such lands were held by the city in trust for public uses, and were not, either under the old Government or the new, the subject of seizure and sale under execution issued on a judgment against the city.</p> <p>When Writ of Error Lies.—The true test as to whether a writ of error lies to the Supreme Court of the United States from the final judgment of a