US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

The High court of Errors and Appeals of the State of Mississippi, on a writ of error to the Circuit Court of Washington County, Mississippi, confirmed a judgment of the circuit court by which a title to land set up on an act of Congress of the United States was held valid, thus construing the act of Congress in favor of the party claiming a right to the land, under the act. The party against whom the decision of the Court of Appeals was given prosecuted a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. The writ of error was dismissed, the court having no jurisdiction.

In order to give the Supreme Court of the United States jurisdiction in such cases, it is not sufficient that the construction of the act of Congress on the validity of the act on which the claim was founded was drawn in question. It must appear also that the decision was against the right claimed. The power of the Supreme Court is carefully defined and restricted by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and it is the duty of this Court not to transcend the limits of the jurisdiction conferred upon it.