Williams v. Crabb

Citations

• 117 F. 193
• 59 L.R.A. 425
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4425

Syllabus

<p>1. Federal Courts—Jurisdiction—Bemedies Given by State Statute.</p> <p>A state cannot by legislation confer a substantive right or remedy in the way of a suit inter partes upon its own citizens that will not be available to the citizens of the other states, nor can it by any device restrict such right or remedy thus made available to enforcement in its own courts, the conditions of citizenship being such that it would otherwise be enforceable in the federal courts.</p> <p>2. Same—Suit to Contest Will.</p> <p>Where the statutes of a state confer upon a state court of equity original jurisdiction of suits to contest the validity of a probated will a circuit court of the United States has concurrent jurisdiction of such a suit in which the amount in controversy is sufficient and the parties are citizens of different states.</p> <p>8. Equity—Joinder of Causes of Action—Multifariousness.</p> <p>Two causes of action, one for setting aside a will and the other for setting aside a deed, both made by the same person, and alleged to have been procured by the fraud and undue influence of one of the defendants, may be joined in the same bill, without rendering it multifarious, where the rights of the other defendants will not be prejudiced thereby, although they claim interests in different portions of the property in controversy through their codefendant; nor is it an objection to such joinder that the statutes of the state require the issue with respect to the will to be submitted to a jury, since a court of equity has power to conform to such requirement.</p> <p>4 Same—Parties—Practice of Federal Courts.</p> <p>To a suit in equity by one of the two heirs at law of a decedent to set aside a will and a deed executed by such decedent for fraud and undue influence, and to recover complainant’s share of the property, the other heir is not an indispensable party, and a federal court will not require his joinder where it would oust its jurisdiction.</p>