Category: Judicial Department
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Writ Scope
Habeas Corpus: Scope of the WritAt the English common law, habeas corpus was available to attack pretrial detention and confinement by executive order; it could not be used to question the conviction of a person pursuant to the judgment of a court with jurisdiction over the person. That common law m…
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Admiralty Proceedings
Admiralty ProceedingsProcedure in admiralty jurisdiction differs in few respects from procedure in actions at law, but the differences that do exist are significant.1 Suits in admiralty traditionally took the form of a proceeding in rem against the v…
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Controversies between Citizens of Different States
Controversies Between Citizens of Different StatesThe records of the Federal Convention are silent on why the Framers included controversies between citizens of different states among the judicial power of the United States,1 but Congress has given &…
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Theory of Plenary Congressional Control Reconsidered
The Theory of Plenary Congressional Control ReconsideredDespite the breadth of the language of many of the previously cited cases, the actual holdings constitute something less than an affirmance of plenary congressional power to do anything it desires by manipulation of jurisdiction, and, indeed, t…
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Federal Court Interference
Federal Court Interference with State Courts: RemovalIn the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress provided that civil actions commenced in the state courts which could have been brought in the original jurisdiction of the inferior federal courts could be removed by the defendant from the state court to th…
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Maritime Jurisdiction
Territorial Extent of Admiralty and Maritime JurisdictionAlthough he was a vigorous exponent of the expansion of admiralty jurisdiction, Justice Story for the Court in The Steamboat Thomas Jefferson 1 adopted a restrictive English rule confining admi…
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District of Columbia Problem
The Meaning of "State" and the District of Columbia ProblemIn Hepburn v. Ellzey,1 Chief Justice Marshall for the Court confined the meaning of the word "state" as used in the Constitution to "the members of the American confe…
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Express Constitutional Restrictions on Congress
Express Constitutional Restrictions on CongressCongress.-"[T]he Constitution is filled with provisions that grant Congress or the States specific power to legislate in certain areas; these granted powers are always subject to the limitations that they may not be exercised in a way that …
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Admiralty and Federalism
Admiralty and FederalismExtension of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction to navigable waters within a state does not, however, of its own force include general or political powers of government. Thus, in the absence of legislation by Congress, the states through their courts may punish offenses upon…
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Citizenship of Natural Persons
Citizenship of Natural PersonsFor purposes of diversity jurisdiction, state citizenship is determined by the concept of domicile 1 rather than of mere residence.2 That is, while the Court's defini…
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Theory of Plenary Congressional Control Conclusion
Conclusion of the Theory of Plenary Congressional ControThere thus remains a measure of doubt that Congress's power over the federal courts is as plenary as some of the Court's language suggests it is. Congress has a vast amount of discretion in conferring and withdrawing and structuring the…
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Treason Limitations
Treason Definition and LimitationsTreason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession …
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Right of the United States to Sue
Right of the United States to SueIn the first edition of his Treatise, Justice Story noted that while "an express power is no where given in the constitution," the right of the United States to sue in its own courts "is clearly implied in that part respecting the judicial power…. In…
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Citizenship of Corporations
Citizenship of CorporationsIn Bank of the United States v. Deveaux,1 Chief Justice Marshall declared: "That invisible, intangible, and artificial being, that mere legal entity, a corporation aggregate, is certainly not a citizen; and consequentl…
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Concurrency
Problems Raised by ConcurrencyThe Constitution established a system of government in which total power, sovereignty, was not unequivocally lodged in one level of government. In Chief Justice Marshall's words, "our complex system [presents] the rare and difficult scheme of one genera…