Idaho & Oregon Land Improvement Co. v. Bradbury

Citations

• 132 U.S. 509
• 10 S. Ct. 177
• 33 L. Ed. 433
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1899

Syllabus

<p>Where the certificate of authentication of a record transmitted to this court 'on appeal begins by setting out the name and office of. the clerk of the court below as the maker of the certificate, and has appended to it the seal of the.court, but lacks the signature of the clerk, this court has jurisdiction of the appeal; and, if no motion to dismiss is made until it is too late to take a new appeal, will permit the certificate to be amended by adding the clerk’s signature.</p> <p>Under the act of April 7, 1874, c. 80, § 2, an appeal, and not a writ of error, • lies to this court from the decree of a territorial court in a proceeding in the nature of a suit in equity, although issues of fact have been submitted to a jury.</p> <p>On appeal from the decree of a territorial court in a proceeding in the nature of a'suit in equity, this court cannot consider the weight or sufficiency of evidence, but only whether the facts found by the court below support the decree, and whether there is any error in rulings, duly excepted to, on the admission or rejection of evidence.</p> <p>A suit to enforce a mechanic’s lien under a territorial statute authorizing the court to order the real estate subject to the lien to bo sold, and any deficiency to bo paid by the owner, as in suits for the foreclosure of mortgages, is in the nature of a suit in equity.</p> <p>A court of equity need not formally set aside the verdict of a jury upon issues submitted to it, before making a decree according to its own view of the evidence.</p> <p>In.a suit in the nature of a suit in equity, a territorial court, after a jury has found upon special issues submitted to it, and has also returned a general verdict, may set aside the general verdict, and substitute its own findings of fact for the special findings of the jury.</p>