Peper v. Fordyce

Citations

• 119 U.S. 469
• 7 S. Ct. 287
• 30 L. Ed. 435
• 1886 U.S. LEXIS 2012

Syllabus

<p>If the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of the United States does not'appear on the face of the record, in some form, the decree is erroneous and must be reversed.</p> <p>A, a Sitizen of Arkansas, conveyed to B, a citizen of the same State, real estate in Arkansas, in trust to secure the payment of notes due to C, a citizen of Missouri, with power of sale in case of non-payment. Subsequently A became insolvent and assigned his property to D, a citizen of •Arkansas, in trust for the benefit of his creditors. Held, that, in proceedings in equity commenced by D to determiue the amount of indebtedness from A to C, and to prevent the sale' of the trust property by B, and to obtain a cancellation of the conveyance to B on payment oftlie amount found due to C, B was a necessary party, with interests adverse to D; and as both were citizens of the same State, and as the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court depended alone upon the citizenship of the parties, it was without jurisdiction. • Thayer v. Life Association of America, 112 U. S. 117, affirmed.</p> <p>When a decree or judgment of a Circuit Court is reversed for want of juris-' diction in that court, this court will make such order in' respect to the costs of appeal as justice and right may seem to require. Mansfield, &c., Railway v. Swann, 111 U. S. 379, and Hancock v. Holbrook, 112 U. S. 229, followed.</p>