Martin's Administrator v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 151 U.S. 673
• 14 S. Ct. 533
• 38 L. Ed. 311
• 1894 U.S. LEXIS 2089

Syllabus

<p>Under the provision of the act of March 3, 1887, c. 373, authorizing an action, brought in a court of a State between citizens of different States, to be removed into the Circuit Court of the United States “by the defendant or defendants therein, being nonresidents of that State,” a defendant corporation must be created by the laws of another State only, in order to entitle it to remove the action; and if it is such a corporation, and has not been also created a corporation by the laws of the State in which an action is brought against it by a citizen thereof, it may remove the action, even'if it has been licensed by the laws of the State to act within its territory, and is therefore subject to be sued in . its courts.</p> <p>Statutes of a State, creating railroad corporations, or licensing them to exercise their franchises within the State, if deemed by the courts of the State public acts of which they take judicial notice without proof, must be judicially noticed by the Circuit Court of the United States sitting within the State, and by this court on writ of error to that court.</p> <p>The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company is a corporation of the State of Maryland only, .though licensed by the State of West Virginia to act within its territory, and liable to be sued in its courts; and may therefore remove into the .-Circuit Court of the United States for the District of West Virginia an action brought against it in a court of the State of West Virginia by a citizen thereof.</p> <p>Under the provision of the act of March 3, 1887, c. 373, by which a petition for the removal of an action from a court of a State into the. Circuit Court of the United States is to be filed in the state court at or before the time when the defendant is required by the laws of the State, or by rule of the state court, “ to answer or plead to the declaration or complaint of the plaintiff,” the petition should be filed as soon as the defendant is required to make any defence whatever,