Pennoyer v. McConnaughy

Citations

• 140 U.S. 1
• 11 S. Ct. 699
• 35 L. Ed. 363
• 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2425

Syllabus

<p>A suit in equity against'the board of land commissioners of the State of Oregon, brought by a purchaser of swamp and overflowed lands under the act of October 26, 1870, in order to restrain the defendants from doing acts which the bill alleges are violative of the plaintiff’s contract' With the State when he purchased the lands, and which are unconstitutional, destructive of- the plaintiff’s rights and privileges, and which it is alleged will work irreparable damage and mischief to his property rights so acquired, is not a suit against the State within the meaning of the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>The cases reviewed in which suits at law or in equity against officials of a State, brought without permission of the State, have been held to be, either suits against the State, and therefore brought in violation of the. Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution; or, on the other hand, suits\\ against persons who hold office under the State, for illegal acts done by them under color of an unconstitutional law of the State, and therefore not suits against the State.</p> <p>The act of the legislature of Oregon of January 17, 1879, repealing the act of October 26, 1870, concerning the swamp and overflowed lands, and .making new regulations concerning the same, did not invalidate an appli cation, duly made before its passage, to purchase such lands; but such an application could be perfected by making the payments required by the act of 1870 after its repeal, but within the time prescribed by that act; and a title thus acquired is good against the State.</p> <p>The act of the legislature of Oregon of February 16, 1887, declaring all certificates of sale of swamp or overflowed lands void on which twenty per ceDt of the purchase price was not paid prior to January 17, 1879, and requiring the board of commissioners to cancel such certificates, impaired the contract made by the State with the defendant in error under the act of October 26,