Hopkins v. Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina
Citations
- 221 U.S. 636
- 31 S. Ct. 654
- 55 L. Ed. 890
- 1911 U.S. LEXIS 1762
Syllabus
<p>With the exception named in the constitution every State has absolute immunity from suit; and the Eleventh Amendment applies not only where the State is actually named as a party but where the suit is really against it although nominally against one of its officers.</p> <p>Immunity from suit is a high attribute of soveriegnty and a prerogative of the State itself which cannot be availed of by public agents when sued for their own torts.</p> <p>Neither a State nor an individual can confer upon an agent authority to commit a tort so as to excuse the perpetrator; in.such a case the law of agency has no application and the individual is liable to suit and injunction..</p> <p>While the State as a sovereign is not subject to suit, cannot be enjoined, and the State's officers cannot be restrained from enforcing the State’s' laws or held liable for consequences of obedience thereto, a void law is neither a law or command but a nullity conferring no authority and affording no protection or immunity from suit.</p> <p>Neither public corporations nor political subdivisions are clothed with the immunity from suit which belongs to the State alone; and while they may be relieved from responsibility to a wider degree than individuals would be they must make the defense and cannot rely on immunity..</p> <p>In this case held that an agricultural college corporation was not such . an agent of the State as to be immune under the Eleventh Amendment from suit for damages caused by erection of a dyke and consequent overflow of plaintiff’s property; but also held that as the dyke was on property belonging to the State, the State would be a necessary party to the suit in order to decree removal, and in the absence of consent to be sued the court had no jurisdiction to decree removal.</p> <p>Although parties erecting a dyke on property belonging to the State may not, under the Eleventh Amendment, be immune from suit, the State is a necessary party to a suit to remove the dyke and it is be
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- holding that the Fifth Amendment’s Just Compensation Clause is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause
- explaining that immunity is “exemption from legal process”
- Section 4 of the Clemson College charter provided that the conditions of any coverage or gift of property or money to the college \shall incur no obligation on the part of the State.\
- defendant incorporated state college could be sued for its tort
- “The state, as a sovereign, is not subject to suit; that the state cannot be enjoined; and that the state’s officers, when sued, cannot be restrained from enforcing the state’s laws, or be held liable for the consequences flowing from obedience to the state’s command.”
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Lamar, Harlan
Read full opinion on CourtListenerSourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
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