Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/137/615/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:57:56+00:00

Document:
The transcript of the record of the court below may be filed at any day during the term succeeding the taking the appeal or bringing the writ of error, if the appellee or defendant in error has not in the meantime had the cause docketed and dismissed, but this cannot be done after the expiration of that term except on application to the court, where a remedy may be found if the applicant was prevented from obtaining the transcript by fraud or contumacy and is not guilty of laches.
When a return is made and the transcript deposited seasonably in the clerk's office, jurisdiction is not lost by not docketing the case before the lapse of the term, but it may still be docketed if in the judgment of the court it is a case to justify it in exercising its discretion to that effect.
defendant in error moved to dismiss the writ of error on the ground of failure to file the transcript or docket the cause within the prescribed period, and notified the plaintiff in error that it would be submitted December 15.
(1) That the defendant in error was not bound to have the case docketed and dismissed if he did not choose to do so.
(2) That the motion to dismiss for this cause could be made at any time before hearing, or the court could avail itself of the objection sua sponte.
(3) That as the plaintiff in error was a member of this bar, and notified the clerk in transmitting the transcript that the case was one of his own, the appearance was properly entered.
(4) That the plaintiff in error, being such a member, was bound to know the rules of this Court with regard to giving security or making a deposit with the clerk as a condition precedent to the filing of the record and docketing of the case.
(5) That the laches of the plaintiff in error were too gross to be passed over, and that the writ of error must be dismissed.
It is the duty of this Court to keep its records clean and free from scandal, and in accordance therewith the court orders the brief of the plaintiff in error to be stricken from the files.
On the 20th day of January, 1887, Thomas A. Green brought his action at law in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Colorado against Samuel H. Elbert, William E. Beck, Joseph C. Helm, Merrick A. Rogers, Lucius P. Marsh, and J. Jay Joslin, claiming damages in the sum of $50,000. April 18, 1887, he filed his amended complaint in said cause, alleging a conspiracy on the part of defendants Rogers, Marsh, and Joslin to bring about a disbarment of plaintiff for filing a bill in equity, in the discharge of his duties as solicitor of one Mrs. Newton and her husband, against Joslin, making certain charges against defendants Rogers and Marsh, and that the defendants Elbert, Beck, and Helm, who were at the time judges of the Supreme Court of Colorado, confederated and conspired with defendants Rogers, Marsh, and Joslin to carry out and consummate the original conspiracy, and entered judgment disbarring the plaintiff accordingly.
The complaint purported to be brought and was claimed to be sustainable under sections 1979, 1980, and 1981 of the Revised Statutes, in connection with section 5407 (Rev.Stat., 2d ed., pp. 347, 348, 1047).
Demurrers were filed on behalf of defendants Elbert, Beck, and Helm, and also of defendants Rogers, Marsh, and Joslin, which, upon argument, were sustained by the court, and judgment entered for the defendants, July 27, 1887.
"I herewith send you a record in a case of my own. Will send you a docket fee and a stipulation to submit under Rule 20 in a few days. Please send me two blanks for entering the appearance of attorneys for both parties."
"Yours of the 5th inst., also transcript of record in case of Green v. Elbert et al., duly received. I enclose two blank orders for appearance as requested. I notice what you say as to furnishing deposit on account of costs and sending stipulation to submit case under the 20th rule."
"I find on looking over my books at New Year's that I had forgotten to send you a docket fee in the case of Thomas A. Green v. Samuel Elbert William E. Beck, Joseph C. Helm, Merrick A. Rogers, Lucius P. Marsh, and J. Jay Joslin. This record was sent up from the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Colorado a year or more ago, on writ of error. If you have not docketed the case please do so at once, and inform me by return mail. I herewith send you draft on New York for $25."
v. Elbert et al., duly received, and I have docketed the case No. 1,541 for Oct. term, 1889, entering your appearance of counsel for pl'ff in error."
To this plaintiff in error relied January 20th: "Yours of the 15th inst. at hand. I have signed, and herewith return my appearance in the case of Thomas A. Green v. Samuel E. Elbert et al., No. 1,541."
"is now and has been for many years past a member of the bar of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Colorado, and also a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States;"
"as he now remembers and believes, that he requested the Clerk of the Supreme Court at the City of Washington, to file said record as soon as the same should reach him, and affiant further states that he has not now any remembrance or recollection of having neglected anything at all on his part which was necessary for him to do in order to have said record filed in the clerk's office of the Supreme Court of the United States as soon as the same reached the said clerk in the City of Washington;"
transcript of the record, together with the necessary citation and bond, all regularly prepared at once docket said cause without further delay, or without anything more to be done on the part of affiant. Affiant does not now remember whether or not he sent to said clerk a docket fee, and affiant states that he may not at that time have known [or] regard[ed] it as absolutely necessary to do so before a record on the return of the writ of error would be filed in said office, but affiant states that, according to the best of his remembrance, he has sent the said clerk the said docket fee, and that he sent the same just so soon as he knew the amount thereof, and the said clerk demanded the same, and affiant further states that, if there was any delay whatever in this regard, it was not at all intentional on his part, and was a mere matter of mistake, and affiant further states that he does not now remember that there was any delay or any mistake made by him in sending said docket fee."
"does not state anything at all to explain why said record was not filed in that time, but simply states that the filing mark upon said record shows that the same was filed in the clerk's office on the 13th day of January, 1890. . . . Affiant further states that he has made this affidavit wholly from his remembrance of what he has done and intended to do touching the filing of said record, and from what he understands or did not understand in regard to such matters in the office of the clerk of the said Supreme Court, and if anything in this affidavit should turn out not to be wholly correct, it is because affiant has not now and does not remember having had any information or knowledge to the contrary of what he has stated above in this affidavit. "
The transcript of the record may be filed at any day during the term succeeding the taking of an appeal or the bringing of a writ of error, if appellee or defendant in error has not in the meantime had the cause docketed and dismissed. But this cannot be done after the expiration of the term, because the writ of error has then become functus officio, and the appeal has spent its force. Credit Co. v. Arkansas Central Railway Co., 128 U. S. 258; Evans v. State Bank, 134 U. S. 330. Remedies may be found where the plaintiff in error or appellant is entirely free from laches or want of diligence and is prevented from obtaining the transcript by the fraud of the other party, the order of the court, or the contumacy of the clerk. United States v. Gomez, 3 Wall. 752, 70 U. S. 763; Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 506; Griggsby v. Purcell, 99 U. S. 505.
When, however, a return is made and the transcript seasonably deposited in the clerk's office, jurisdiction is not lost by the lapse of the term, but the cause may still be docketed if the circumstances are such as to justify the court in exercising its discretion to that effect. Edwards v. United States, 102 U. S. 575; Richardson v. Green, 130 U. S. 104. This we cannot be called upon to do arbitrarily. To the proper conduct of the business of this Court, rules are necessary, and, having been prescribed, reasonable compliance with them is expected, and must be insisted upon. When they are disregarded, dispensation from the consequences can only be extended where the circumstances furnish adequate excuse. Were this otherwise, our regulations might become more honored in the breach than the observance, and the recognition of due procedure would be seriously weakened and impaired.
the record, this Court had power to direct it to be subsequently placed upon the docket, or to treat the act of the clerk in docketing it as providently done.
The transcript was filed and the cause docketed January 13, 1890. The judgment sought to be revised was entered July 27, 1887, and it thus appears that the case was not docketed until the expiration of considerably more than two years after the entry of such judgment, the statutory limitation upon the bringing of the writ of error. Rev.Stat. § 1008.
The defendants in error filed their motion to dismiss on November 17, 1890, and gave notice that it would be submitted December 15th following. They were not bound to docket and dismiss the case if they did not choose to do so, and the plaintiff in error occupies no position entitling him to complain because they did not. Nor did they wait until the two years had run before making their motion. On the contrary, that time had expired some months before the transcript was filed. The motion may be made at any time before hearing, or the objection be availed of by the court sua sponte, Griggsby v. Purcell, 99 U. S. 505, although delay in presenting the point has sometimes been referred to as an element, in combination with others, justifying leniency in its disposition.
of the record is fixed by the rule at five dollars, and the twenty-five dollars above referred to covers that sum and the estimated costs up to the time for printing.
The plaintiff in error was a member of this bar, and especially bound to know the rules, and that it was a condition precedent to the filing of the record and docketing of the case that security should be given to or that a deposit should be made with the clerk. But knowledge need not be imputed, for by his letter of May 5, 1888, accompanying the record, plaintiff in error showed actual knowledge of the necessity for the deposit, and assured the clerk that it would be forwarded, while at the same time he requested blanks for the entry of appearance of counsel on both sides. In view of this letter, it is impossible for us to doubt that the plaintiff in error was, as every member of our bar should be, sufficiently acquainted with our rules and the conduct of business in the clerk's office. But he forwarded no deposit or fee bond, nor paid the specified fee for filing the transcript, nor transmitted a formal appearance, though blanks had been sent him May 10, 1888, as requested.
On January 7, 1890, a year and eight months after his letter of May 5, 1888, the plaintiff in error remitted to the clerk the sum of $25, which is the deposit required, and wrote that he found, on looking over his books at New Year's that he had forgotten to send "a docket fee" in the case, and requested the case to be docketed at once, if that had not already been done. The transcript was accordingly filed, and the cause docketed January 13, 1890, as already stated, and plaintiff in error informed thereof.
We regard the laches of plaintiff in error as too gross to be passed over. We cannot treat his omission to forward the deposit soon after May 5, 1888, nor the twenty months' neglect that thereupon ensued, as attributable to ignorance or inadvertence, or as excusable upon any ground heretofore deemed sufficient. Mere carelessness in the inception may have finally resulted in forgetfulness, but we cannot therefore absolve him from the penalty legitimately attaching to this disregard of our rules. The writ of error must be dismissed.
We regret that we find ourselves compelled to add something further. The printed argument of plaintiff in error contains many allegations wholly aside from the charges made in his complaint, and bearing reproachfully upon the moral character of individuals, which are clearly impertinent and scandalous, and unfit to be submitted to the Court. It is our duty to keep our records clean and free from scandal.
The brief of the plaintiff in error will be stricken from the files, and the writ of error dismissed, and it is so ordered.

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 § 1008
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