United States v. Jahn

Citations

• 155 U.S. 109
• 15 S. Ct. 39
• 39 L. Ed. 87
• 1894 U.S. LEXIS 2255

Syllabus

<p>A Circuit Court of the United States has jurisdiction to hear and determine, on appeal from the Board of General Appraisers, the questions of law and of fact involved in' a decision of that Board sustaining the action of a collector of customs in exacting a charge for gauging molasses under the provisions of-Rev. Stat. § '3023.</p> <p>Giving to the act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 826, c. 517, to establish Circuit Courts of Appeals, taken as a whole, a reasonable construction, it is held :</p> <p>(1) That if the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court is in issue and decided in favor of the defendant, as that disposes of the case, the plaintiff should have the question certified and take his appeal or writ of error directly 'to this court;</p> <p>(2) That if the question of jurisdiction is in issue, and the jurisdiction sustained, and then judgment or decree is rendered in favor of the defendant on the merits, the plaintiff who has maintained the jurisdiction, must .appeal to the Circuit Court! of Appeals, where, if the question of jurisdiction arises, the Circuit Court of Appeals may certify it;</p> <p>(3) That if the question of jurisdiction is in issue, and the jurisdiction sustained, and judgment on the merits is rendered in favor of the plaintiff, then the defendant can elect either to have the question certified and come directly to this court, or to carry the whole case to the Circuit Court of Appeals, and the question of jurisdiction can be certified by that court;</p> <p>(1) That if in the case last supposed the plaintiff has ground of complaint in respect of the judgment he has recovered, he may also carry the case to the Circuit Court of Appeals on the merits, and this he may do by way of cross-appeal or writ of error if the defendant has taken the case there, or independently, if the defendant has carried the case to this court on the question of jurisdiction alone, and in this instance the Circuit Court of Appeals will suspend a decision upon the merits unti