Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-01-18

nv Of our citizens, 70 e4teho the Juris-
diction of the federal courts to suits be-
tween the citizens Of this District and
of the several States, ! beg leave, thro'
your paper, to submit a few considera-
tons to obyiate the constitutional OBJ
iections, which some persons, whose
opinions on any subject are entitled to
the highest respect, entertain to the pas
sage of such law.
The doubt on this subject arises from
the difficulty of ascertaining the precise
import of the term " State" as used in
that clause of the constitution, which
defines the judicial power Of the ma
tional government. Some have ina
gined that the word, as there used, can
only signify such body polite as is
entitled to representation in the Senate !:
but Mr.. Madison, who was as promi-
nent as any one in forming the constr
tuition, says, in his celebrated report, a
dopted by the Legislature of Virginia
in 1900, that the word State els some
shines used in vague sense, and some
"times in different senses, according
"to the subject to which it is applied.
"Thus it sometimes means the Sepa-
"rate sections of territory occupied by
"the political society within each /;
sometimes the particular govern
"ments established by these societies ;
sometimes societies as organised into
"those particular governments; and,
lastly, it means the people composing
"those political societies in their high
"est sovereign capacity"
But if construction be given to the
term Estate" so limited as to exclude
from its possible Specification the Dis
trict of Columbia, it is worthy of consi-
Iteration, whether there be not express
sions in the same clause, which would
empower Congress to give us the Pri-
vilege we ask for.
The court of appeals in Virginia,
in the case of Gusts q. Lane, Sd Mum
ford SIG, decided that the District OF
Columbia was foreign to the State Of
Virginia, and that citizen OF the Dis
trict was foreigner to the State. A
mother highly respectable court OF the
same State, has decided that the judi
cial proceedings of the courts Of this
District, are to be considered as the
proceedings Of foreign court. If
these decisions be correct, do not the
words, which extend the jurisdiction
of the federal courts to all suits be-
tween citizens Of the United States "and
foreign States, citizens or subjects, !"
impart to Congress the power we ask
them to exercise in our favor?
Congress has, in the act assuming
exclusive jurisdiction over this Dis
trict, given appellate jurisdiction to the
supreme court, from the decisions OF
the circuit court of the District in all
civil cases, where the sum involved in
the controversy exceeds a certain a
mount, exclusive of costs. Under what
authority is this appellate jurisdiction
given? 1t is presumed either under
| that clause, which defines the jurisdic-
ton of the supreme court, or that
| which empowers Congress with exclu-
sive legislation over the ten miles
square. The former, after defining to
what the original jurisdiction Of the SUI
preme court shall extend, declares that
Gin all the other cases before mention
ed, the supreme court shall have appel
late jurisdiction" And what are the
cases before mentioned. They are
those arising under the constitution
the laws of the United States and trea-
| ties-all cases of admiralty and mari
time Observation-Disclosures to
which the United States shall be a par
ty-controversies between citizens OF
different States-citizens of the same
States claiming lands under grants OF
different States, and between citizens
of State, foreign States, citizens or sub
jects. These are the only cases which,
under the clause defining the jurisdic-
ton of the Supreme Court, that tribu,
nal can entertain appellate jurisdiction
If the limited construction, which has
been given to the term estate" be the
true one, is the law giving appellate