US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

The United States instituted a suit on a bond for duties in the District Court of the Southern District of New York, and after a trial and verdict for the United States, judgment was given against the defendant, who thereupon prosecuted a writ of error to the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, where the judgment of the district court was affirmed. The defendant then appealed to the Court of Appeals. Held that cases at law can only be brought from the circuit court by writ of error, and cannot be brought by appeal. In cases at law removed from the district to the circuit court, the judgment of the circuit court is final and conclusive. It is otherwise in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.

The cases of @ 11 U. S. 7 Cranch 287; 15 U. S. 2 Wheat. 248, 15 U. S. 395, cited.

Mr. Butler, the Attorney General, moved to dismiss the appeal on two grounds.

1. That this was originally a proceeding at law, on a bond for duties, in the District Court of New York for the Southern District, and was, after a judgment of that court for the United States, taken by a writ of error to the Circuit Court for the Southern Circuit by the defendant, where the judgment of the district court was affirmed. The judgment of the circuit court is final in such a case.

2. This is a proceeding at law, and the defendant has brought the case from the circuit court by an appeal, and not by a writ of error.