United Surety Co. v. American Fruit Product Co.

Citations

• 238 U.S. 140
• 35 S. Ct. 828
• 59 L. Ed. 1238
• 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1608

Syllabus

<p>The right given to this court by the sixth clause of § 250, Judicial Code,' ’ to reexamine the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in eases in which the construction of any law of the United States is drawn in question by the defendant, is confined to the construction of laws of general application throughout the United States, and does not include laws local in their application to the District of Columbia. American Security & Trust Co. v. District of Columbia, 224 U. S. 491.</p> <p>Qucere, whether under the third clause of § 250, Judicial Code, this court may not examine the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia where the constitutionality of a statute of the United States, whether general or local to the District, is involved.</p> <p>Sections 454 and 455 of the District Code are not unconstitutional because they provide that a surety, by executing the undertaking to release property attached, is bound by the judgment against the principal, although it has no right to be heard, whether the value of the property released be fixéd by appraisal or by the court. Beall v. New Mexico, 16 Wall. 535.</p> <p>A constitutional question that has no real foundation cannot be put forward as a mere pretext to open other questions that otherwise could not come before this court. Goodrich v. Ferris, 214 U. S. 71.</p> <p>Writ of error to review 40 App. D. C. 239, dismissed.</p>