Richardson v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 169 U.S. 128 (1898)

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Richardson v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company

No. 251

Submitted December 18, 1897
Decided January 17, 1898
169 U.S. 128

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

Syllabus

On a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, this Court being of opinion that the ruling of the state court on the points upon which the case turned there was obviously correct, does not feel constrained to retain the case for further argument, and accordingly affirms the judgment.

This was an action of ejectment brought in a state court of Florida to recover tracts of land at and near Pensacola alleged to have been granted to the person from whom the plaintiff deraigned title by the Spanish superintendent general before the acquisition of Florida by the United States. Judgment was entered for the defendants by the trial court, which judgment was sustained by the supreme court of the state. The grounds upon which each of these judgments was founded are briefly stated in the opinion of the Court, below. The defendant in error moved to dismiss the case for want of jurisdiction. His motion was as follows:

Comes the appellee, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, by its counsel of record, Gregory L. Smith, and moves the court to dismiss the above entitled cause for want of jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of the United States to review the same, in that:

It does not appear from the record that the questions relied upon by the plaintiff in error to give jurisdiction to this court were presented to the state courts for consideration at the proper time and in the proper manner.

The Supreme Court of Florida based its decision upon two sufficient grounds, at least one of which does not involve, and is not claimed to involve, a federal question.

No federal question sufficient to give jurisdiction to this court to review the decision of the state court is involved in the cause or was decided by the Supreme Court of Florida.