Oakey v. Commercial & Rail Road Bank of Vicksburg
Oakey v. Commercial & Rail Road Bank of Vicksburg
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court:
The only question which arrests our attention in the present case, is whether the judge of the inferior court erred in disregarding the defendant’s petition at the time of entering his appearance, and on a tender of sufficient security, to have the case transferred to the Circuit Court of the United States, on an allegation that all the plaintiffs were citizens of . this state, and that the defendants, to wit, “the president, directors and company of the Commercial and Rail Road Bank of Vicksburg, are all and each of them, citizens of other ° J 3 J states, or aliens.”
It is not contended that the security offered was not good and sufficient; and the defendants and appellants, therefore, urge that it was the duty of the court, in the language of the 12th section of the Judiciary Act of the United States, passed in 1789, to accept the surety, “ and proceed no further in the cause.”
The court had no authority to inquire into the truth of the allegations in the petition. This was the province of the Court of the United States after the removal. The judge of the inferior court, however, assumes that the defendants, being a corporation, could not be citizens .of another state, or aliens ; and that, therefore, they did not possess such a national character. The cases referred to by the judge a quo, and the counsel for the plaintiffs and appellees, are as follows: Bingham vs. Cabot et al, 3 Dallas, 382; Breithaupt vs. Bank of Georgia, 1 Peters, 238: Smith vs. Rines et al, 2 Sumner’s Reports, 338; and Conkling’s Treatise, &c., 234-5.
It is, therefore,. ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the judgment of the Commercial Court, be annulled, avoided and reversed ; and the case remanded, with directions to the court below to accept good and sufficient security, and proceed no further in the cause. The plaintiffs and appellees, paying costs in both courts.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- OAKEY v. COMMERCIAL AND RAIL ROAD BANK OF VICKSBURG
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published