Moore-Mansfield Construction Co. v. Electrical Installation Co.

Citations

• 234 U.S. 619
• 34 S. Ct. 941
• 58 L. Ed. 1503
• 1914 U.S. LEXIS 1114

Syllabus

<p>A case otherwise within the jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States and reviewable in the Circuit Court of Appeals is not a case which may come direct to this court under' § 238, Judicial Code, merely because in the course of the case a question has arisen as to whether a change in decision of the state court as to the effect and scope of a state statute amounts to an impairment of the obligation of a contract.</p> <p>Courts of the United States are courts of independent jurisdiction; and when a question arises in a United States court as to the effect of a change-of decision which detrimentally affects contracts, rights and obligations entered into before such change, such rights and obligations should be determined by the'law as judicially .construed at the time the rights accrued. »</p> <p>Federal courts in such a case, while leaning to the view of the state court, in re'gard to the validity or the interpretation of a statute, should exercise an independent judgment and not necessarily follow state decisions rendered subsequently to the arising of the contract rights involved.</p> <p>Where the District Court errs in following later decisions of the state court rather than those rendered prior to the making of the contract, the error may be corrected by the Circuit Court of Appeals or by this court under writ of certiorari but.not by direct appeal to this court.</p> <p>A change in decision of the state court in reference to the scope of a state statute held, in this case, not to be a law impairing the obligation of a contract.</p>