4 Fla. 175 | Fla. | 1851
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a petition for the transfer and delivery to the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, of the record of the proceedings of the Court of Appeals of the late Territorial Government of Florida, in a cause wherein Curtis and Griswold, trustees of the Apalachicola Land Company were appellants, and John Ineraritj, administrator of John Forbes, and James Inerarity were respondents, removed by appeal from the Superior Court of the Western District, for Escambia County, to the
The decree of the Court of Appeals was pronounced at the January Term, 1844, and both parties appealed therefrom to the Supreme Court of the United States. While the cause was pending in that Court, on the 3d of March, 1845, Florida was admitted into the Union, as a State, by an act of Congress of that date. The appeal in the Supreme Court of the United States was decided at January Term, 1848, and the decree of the Court of Appeals was by that decision affirmed. The petition sets forth that the mandate of the Supreme Court of the United States has issued to the District Court for the Northern District of Florida, according to the provisions of the 3d section of the act of Congress of February 22d, 1847, (Acts 2d Session 29th Congress, Chapter 17,) commanding the said District Court to proceed to the execution of the decree of the Court of Appeals ; but that the said Court cannot execute the said mandate for want of the record of the judgment and proceedings in said cause, which it is alleged are in the archives of this Court; and praying that an order may pass directing the delivery of the same to the Clerk of the District Court, &c.
This application is resisted by Messrs. Delafíeld and Curtis, Trustees of the Apalachicola Land Company, who are represented herein by counsel, on several grounds: 1. That the General Assembly of' Florida have vested power in this Court to take the papers and keep them. 2. That the subject matter of the suit is not cognizable by the Federal Courts, under the acts of Congress ; and 3. That this Court has jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the suit, and ought itself to do whatever is necessary to execute the judgment of the Court of Appeals, if the same appear to be affirmed, ■and grant process, &c.
In the consideration of this subject it will be important to
The Territorial government of Florida was the creature of the government of the United States, under the authority of the second clause of the third section of the fourth article of the Constitution, which vests in Congress the power to “ make all needful rules and regulations respecting the ter- “ ritory and other property belonging to the United States.” By the act of March 30th, 1822, amended by the acts of March 3d, 1823, of May 26th, 1824, of May 15th, 1826, of May 23d, 1828, and of July 7th, 1838, and by other acts,, (see Thompson’s Digest, Appendix, 585 to 612,) all the territory ceded by Spain to the United States, known by the name of East and West Florida, was erected into a Territory of the United States, under the name of the Territory of Florida, and the power and authority of that government ascertained and distributed into and among three departments, executive, legislative and judicial.. The judicial power was vested in a court of appeals, in five superior courts and, also, in such inferior courts and justices of the peace as the legislative department should from time to time establish. The superior courts were courts of general original jurisdiction at common law and in equity, and had also jurisdiction of matters peculiarly cognizable by the courts of the Federal judiciary ; and the Court of Appeals was a court of appellate jurisdiction over the judgments, sentences- and decrees of the superior courts ; the judgments and decrees of which latter court were subject to review by appeal or writ of error in the Supreme Court of the United States,, under certain rules, regulations and restrictions.-
That the effect of the admission of the Territory into the Union, as a State, was to deprive the several departments of that government of all their power, authority and jurisdiction is clear and incontrovertible. The right of sovereignty in the General government which gave life and vigor to them was gone. The officers and the courts of the old system were continued, but they held by a new tenure; they could point no longer to the government of the United States as the source of their power, but to the Constitution of the State of Florida. It was a government ad interim, to prevent anarchy and confusion during the period of time necessary to be consumed in arranging the new government, electing officers, &c., &c. The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Benner v. Porter fully supports this view of the subject. 9 Howard’s Reports, 235. On the subject of the records of the courts of the Territory, the Supreme Court, in the same case, commenting on the previous case of Palao v. Hunt, 4 Howard’s Reports, 589, says that there is no ground-for .qualifying the opinion expressed in that case, believing it to be sound and incontrovertible ; but deem it proper, in the reiteration of that opinion, to do so with more fullness, as to its effect in respect to cases of State jurisdiction. The Court says : “ The “ Territorial courts were the courts of the General govern- “ ment, and the records in the custody of their clerks, the “ records of that government; and it would seem to follow “ necessarily from these premises, that no one could legally “ take the possession or custody of the same without the “ assent, express or implied, of Congress. Such assent is
The paragraphs quoted from this decision are in entire consonance with our own views and opinions, and fully expressive thereof. We think it is entitled to great weight, as well from the ability and learning of the judges, as from the character of the forum in which they preside, the determination of such political questions being within its peculiar province; and, besides, the opinion is expressed upon the examination and review of the former opinion of the Court, in Palao v. Hunt, before alluded to, and may, therefore, be considered as a judgment pronounced upon the fullest deliberation.
The decision of the case of Palao v. Hunt produced the action of Congress bjr the act of February 22d, 1847, before adverted to, which placed the records and proceedings of certain classes of cases under the control and jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States, established and organized within the State of Florida, under the 1st section of the 3d article of the Constitution of the United States. The causes and matters of record of the old Territorial Courts thus transferred to the District Courts may be stated as follows:
1. Causes pending in the Superior Courts of the Territory, under the acts of Congress of May 23d, 1828, and May 26th, 1830, providing for the settlement and confirmation of private land claims in Florida ;
3. The records and proceedings of the several Courts in causes determined before the said period, and from which writs of error could have been sued out, or appeals could have been taken and prosecuted to the Supreme Court of the United States, according to the laws in force prior thereto;
4. The records and proceedings of the several Courts, in causes determined therein prior to said March 3d, 1845, on which writs of error had been sued out, or appeals taken, under the laws then in force, to the Supreme Court of the United States;
5. All causes pending in any of the Superior Courts, or Courts of Appeals, on the 3d of March, 1845, not legally transferred to the Courts of the State, and which the said ■Courts continued to hold cognizance of and proceeded to .determine after that day, or which are claimed to have been .since pending therein as Courts of the United States ; and
6. All cases of Federal character and jurisdiction commenced in said Territorial Courts after said day, and in which judgments or decrees were rendered, or which are claimed to have been since pending therein.
The record of the decree and proceedings of the case of Curtis and Griswold, trustees, &c. appellants, and Ineraritty, respondent, falls within the class fourthly above described, the decree of the Court of Appeals in said cause having been appealed from prior to the admission of Florida into the Union, and, of course, pending in the Supreme Court of the United States at that time.
The Supreme Court, in Benner v. Porter, explaining the ..opinion expressed, that the assent of Congress was essential to the authorized transfer of the records of the Territorial Courts, in suits pending at the time of the change of government, to the custody of State tribunals, says, that " it is
We are not unaware that the cases of Stewart v. Preston, (1st Florida Reports, 1, 9,) and Beatty v. Ross, (1st Florida Reports, 198, 210,) decided in this Court, hold a contrary doctrine to that which we have announced; but the question was a new one, and there were no reported adjudications to aid the Court in arriving at a proper conclusion, and if, under these circumstances, this Court has proceeded upon an erroneous view of the subject, the better course is to retrace our steps as the error becomes apparent. The case of Stewart v. Preston was decided in 1846, at the first term of the Court, and before Congress had taken any action on the subject. The act of the General Assembly of Florida of July 25th, 1845, provided that all cases pending in said Court of Appeals should be transferred to this Court, and should be tried and determined therein and thereby, excepting from the operation of the enactment cases cognizable by the Federal Courts; and the Clerk of the Supreme Court having obtained possession of the records and files of the Court, the cause was docketed for hearing in this Court. The counsel for res
Entertaining the opinions which we have expressed, we •are compelled to disapprove of the conclusion, as well as the argument of the Court in this case; and we feel well assured that if Congress had at the time asserted the claim subsequently made by the act of February 22d, 1847, the •opinion of the Court would have been otherwise. The concluding clause of the 4th section of the 17th article of the ■Constitution, as well as the 14th section of the act of Assembly of July 25th, 1845, must be considered ineffectual t© ,give jurisdiction of those pending suits to the State Courts, •until they received the concurrent sanction of the Congress of the United States, as before mentioned.
The case of Beatty v. Ross had been commenced by the service of process from the Superior Court of the Middle District prior to the 3d March, 1845 ; before the return day <of the process, the Territory was admitted into the Union •of the States, and the Territorial Government was thereby •abrogated and displaced. The process was actually re
The learned Court, for the purpose of showing that they were not mistaken on this point, make a reference to Smith v. McIvor, (9th Wheaton’s Reports, 532,) and the principle decided therein that, in all cases of concurrent jurisdiction,'the Court which first has possession of the subject-matter must decide it conclusively, is invoked for the purpose of sustaining the argument; but it is very clear to our minds, that the force and effect of the principle decided is misapprehended and misapplied. The jurisdiction alluded to is one which is rightfully obtained by authority of law, not a mere possession of the records of another court, and of the files or issue books of causes depending therein obtained by force, artifice, or accident. An examination of the case cited will show that the principle decided was there applied to a case where a suit in equity was brought for the purpose of litigating the same question that had been previously adjudicated between the same parties in a court of law, without the addition of any equitable circumstances to give jurisdiction, and of which question courts of law and equity had
But it seems to us the great error in the argument of the learned court is the assumption that the courts established by Congress in the Territory of Florida were not courts of the United States. The Court says, “We attribute no im- “ portance to the fact that Congress established the superior “ courts. This did not make them United States courts.” What, then, did it make them ? It would seem that every court must be the court of the power which creates it; and it is admitted they were created by Congress, in which body the legislative department of the General government is deposited. But this error seems to have arisen from a misapprehension of the decision of the Supreme Court U. S. in the American Insurance Company v. Canter, (1 Peters’ R., 546,) and which is cited to sustain the position. We understand the Supreme Court in that case to have decided that the courts established by Congress in the Territory of Florida were “ not constitutional courts, in which the judicial power conferred by the Constitution on the General government can be depositedbut declared them to be legislative courts created under the power which Congress possesses over the Territories of the United States. Neither in this, nor in any other case, has the Supreme Court declared that they were not courts of the United States ; but, on the contrary, in the recent cases before cited, they are expressly asserted and claimed to be courts of the United States, and their records the property of the United States.
Whether the District Court of the United States to which Congress has assigned the power and jurisdiction over the
It remains to be inquired whether the record in question is in the archives of this Court, or we have such power over it as will enable us to grant the prayer of the petition. No power or authority is claimed in the Constitution of the State over the records of the courts of the Territory in causes which had been determined in the Court of Appeals prior to the admission of the State, but by the act of the General Assembly of July 25th, 1845, section 13, it is provided “ that the clerk of the Court of Appeals of the Territory of Florida shall, on the demand of the clerk of the “ Supreme Court of this State, forthwith deliver to him all “ the dockets, records, writs, files, books and papers of said « Court of Appeals, and property and furniture of every “ nature and kind whatsoever, and the seal thereof, to be “ kept by said clerk of the Supreme Court in a room to be “ assigned him by the Governor in the Capitol, for his office.” There can be no doubt as to the proper interpretation of this act. It does not place the records in the custody of this Court, neither does it authorize any judicial action upon them, nor give this Court any power over them. It is no doubt competent for the General Assembly to require of the clerk of the Supreme Court the performance of duties in addition to the duties-proper of his office and wholly foreign thereto, and such we understand to be the scope and effect of the 13th section before referred to. But it does not follow, as a legitimate deduction therefrom, that this Court would thereby acquire power and jurisdiction over him in relation to those additional duties.
The only records and papers of the Court of Appeals over which we have any control, are those of the suits pending and undetermined therein at the time of the change of government, and which were, by the section 14 of the act of Assembly of July, 1845, transferred to this Court, and of which the Court assumed jurisdiction and decided.
We have not the authority to give the petitioner the relief which he asks and to which he seems to be entitled, but are compelled to deny his prayer and refer him to the remedy pointed out by the section 2d of the act of Congress of February 22d, 1847, or to some other appropriate remedy, if there be any, in the Circuit Court, as a Court of original jurisdiction.
Motion denied with costs.