Smyth v. Asphalt Belt Ry. Co., 267 U.S. 326 (1925)

Smyth v. Asphalt Belt Railway Company

No. 206

Argued January 20, 1925
Decided March 2, 1925
267 U.S. 326

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, TRANSFERRED FROM

THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR

THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, PURSUANT TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS

OF SEPTEMBER 14, 1922

Syllabus

1. The propriety of a transfer of a case from the circuit court of appeals will be inquired into by this Court of its own motion. P. 327.

2. A decree of the district court dismissing a bill "for lack of jurisdiction" but in the absence of any challenge of the court’s jurisdiction as a federal court, and based upon a conclusion, after full hearing upon pleadings and evidence, that the acts sought to be enjoined were not violative of rights claimed by the plaintiff under a federal statute, held not to involve the jurisdiction of the district court as a federal court, and not appealable directly to this Court, but to the circuit court of appeals. P. 328.

3. When the district court lacks jurisdiction as a federal court, it is without power to impose costs on the plaintiff. P. 330.

292 F. 876 returned to the circuit court of appeals.

Appeal from a decree of the district court which dismissed a bill by which the appellants sought to enjoin condemnation of their land for railway purposes. The case was transferred to this Court by the circuit court of appeals, to which the appeal was taken. It is now returned to that court.