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Supreme Court· 1/9/1888

In Re Sawyer

Citations

  • 124 U.S. 200
  • 8 S. Ct. 482
  • 31 L. Ed. 402
  • 1888 U.S. LEXIS 1855

Syllabus

<p>A court of equity has no jurisdiction of a bill to stay criminal proceedings.</p> <p>A court of equity' has no jurisdiction of a bill to restrain the removal of a public officer.</p> <p>The Circuit Court of the United States has no jurisdiction or authority to entertain a bill in equity to restrain the mayor and committee of a city in Nebraska from removing a city officer upon charges filed against him for malfeasance in office; and an injunction issued upon such a bill, as well as an order committing the defendants for contempt in disregarding the injunction, is absolutely void, and they are entitled to be discharged on habeas corpus.</p>

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • holding that a court of equity had no jurisdiction over the appointment and removal of public officers
  • “The Circuit Court being without jurisdiction to entertain the bill in equity for an injunction, all its proceedings in the exercise of the jurisdiction which it assumed are null and void. The restraining order, in the nature of an injunction, it had no power to make.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: G-Eat, Field, Waite, Haelan

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

267 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

15 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

Other cases named In Re Sawyer

24 other CourtListener records share this case name.

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.