Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/586/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 23:59:31+00:00

Document:
WILSON v. STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA ex rel. CALDWELL.
By chapter 320 of the Laws of 1891, the general assembly of North Carolina passed an act creating a state railroad commission, the first section of which is set out in the margin. 1 At the same session the legislature passed another act making such commission a court of record.
On the return day the plaintiff in error appeared, and denied in writing the various charges contained in the governor's communication, after which, in explanation of the charges, he made a written statement in regard to them. The plaintiff in error demanded of the governor that the evidence against him be produced, and that he have an opportunity to confront his accusers and cross-examine the witnesses. This demand was refused.
The answer then set forth the proceedings already mentioned, resulting in the suspension of the defendant by the governor, and it also set forth the various demands made by defendant before the governor to be confronted with witnesses, and to have an opportunity to cross-examine them, and the governor's refusal of those demands; and as a result the defendant alleged that the governor had, without evidence and without trial, found that the defendant had violated the law, and had become disqualitied to act as railroad commissioner, and that he had, without a more specific finding, assumed to suspend the defendant, and deprive him of his office.
The plaintiff thereupon moved for judgment upon the complaint and answer. The defendant objected that the motion was irregular, and that the plaintiff should either demur or go to trial before the jury, and that the statute in question, and the action of the governor, set out in the pleadings, deprived defendant of his office without due process of law and denied to him the equal protection of the laws, in violation of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, the protection of which he expressly claimed.
Under the statute of 1891 creating the railroad commission, and providing for the appointment, suspension, and removal of the officers of such commission, the act of the governor in suspending the plaintiff in error was not a finality. Before there could be any removal, the fact of suspension was to be reported to the next legislature by the governor, and, unless that body removed the officer, the effect was to reinstate him in office, and he then became entitled to the salary during the time of his suspension.
Authorities are not required to support the general proposition that in the consideration of the constitution or laws of a state this court follows the construction given to those instruments by the highest court of the state. The exceptions to this rule do not embrace the case now before us. We are, therefore, concluded by the decision of the supreme court of North Carolina as to the proper construction of the statute itself, and that, as construed, it does not violate the constitution of the state.
This statement is quoted with approval in Hovey v. Elliott, 167 U. S. 409, at page 443, 17 Sup. Ct., at page 841.
In Kennard v. Louisiana, 92 U. S. 480, the proceeding under which the title to the office of justice of the supreme court of the state was tried was held not to violate the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States. The court said the officer had an opportunity to be heard before he was condemned. There was no intimation in that case that a hearing such as was had here would be insufficient, or that the officer would be entitled to be 'confronted with his accusers, and to cross-examine the witnesses,' and to have a jury trial. In Foster v. Kansas, 112 U. S. 201, 5 Sup. Ct. 8, 97, the Kennard Case was approved. Neither case gives any support to the claim that such a hearing as was given in this case would be insufficient under the fourteenth amendment.
The demand made by the plaintiff in error for such a trial in the court below must have been for the purpose of submitting to the jury the question of the truth of the allegations set up in the answer regarding the proceedings before the governor, and to claim that, if the jury found them to be true, he was not legally suspended. But the motion for judgment on the pleadings was equivalent to a demurrer to the answer for insufficiency, and was, therefore, an admission of all the facts well pleaded. The question then became one of law for the court to decide, and in granting the motion the court did decide that no defense was set forth in the answer. In a case like this, such a decision of the state court is conclusive. The mere refusal of a jury trial in and of itself, and separated from all other matters, raises no federal question. Walker v. Sauvinet, 92 U. S. 90.
In Hamblin v. Land Co., 147 U. S. 531, 13 Sup. Ct. 353, it was stated that 'a real, and not a fictitious, federal question is essential to the jurisdiction of this court over the judgments of state courts. Millingar v. Hartupee, 6 Wall. 258; New Orleans v New Orleans Waterworks Co., 142 U. S. 79, 87, 12 Sup. Ct. 142. In the latter case it was said that 'the bare averment of a federal question is not in all cases sufficient. It must not be wholly without foundation. There must be at least color of ground for such averment, otherwise a federal question might be set up in almost any case, and the jurisdiction of this court invoked simply for the purpose of delay."
We think this case falls within the principle thus stated. Although an office has been hed in North Carolina to be generally and in a certain restricted sense the property of the incumbent, yet in this case the supreme court held that the incumbent, in taking the office, holds it subject to the act creating it, which binds him by all its provisions, all of which were held to be valid. We should be very reluctant to decide that we had jurisdiction in such a case, and thus, in an action of this nature, to supervise and review the political administration of a state government by its own officials, and through its own courts. The jurisdiction of this court would only exist in case there had been, by reason of the statute and the proceedings under it, such a plain and substantial departure from the fundamental principles upon which our government is based that it could with truth and propriety be said that, if the judgment were suffered to remain, the party aggrieved would be deprived of his life, liberty, or property in violation of the provisions of the federal constitution.
The plaintiff in error, after the entry of the judgment of the supreme court affirming the judgment of ouster, sued out a writ of error from this court, which was duly allowed by the chief justice of the supreme court of that state on the 23d day of December, 1897, and on the same day a good and sufficient bond, conditioned as required by law in cases of supersedeas, was tendered, and the chief justice duly approved it, and signed the citation. A few minutes after 7 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, the writ of error, with the petition therefor, and the assignment of errors, and the citation and bond, were filed in the clerk's office of the state supreme court, and at the same time copies of the writ of error were lodged in the clerk's office for the state of North Carolina and for the relator. The plaintiff in error alleged, on information and belief, that the relator, with full knowledge of the issuing of the writ and of the action of the chief justice, broke into the room occupied as offices by the railroad commission, and took possession. The judgment of affirmance directed the issuing of a writ of possession. On the morning of the 24th of December, 1897, counsel for the relator made a motion in the state court to set aside the supersedeas, while at the same time counsel for the plaintiff in error made a motion that the execution of the writ of possession issued on the judgment of the state court be recalled on account of the supersedeas. Both motions were refused, and an opinion delivered by Mr. Justice Clark, holding that the judgment of the court ex proprio vigore placed the relator in the possession of the office at the time the judgment was filed, and that such judgment took effect immediately upon being entered, and it was not superseded by the subsequent writ of error, regular or irregular. He also held that the court had no power to set aside the writ of error or to pass upon the regularity thereof.
He denied under oath that any notice of the filing of a supersedeas by the plaintiff in error was served upon him, or that he had any knowledge of the filing of said bond until the day after the taking possession of the rooms of the commission as above stated.
Plaintiff in error claims that by virtue of the allowance of the writ of error and the filing of the supersedeas bond the relator was precluded from taking any step under the judgment of the state court which ousted the plaintiff in error, and adjudged the right to the office to be in the relator. It is argued that the filing of a proper bond operates as a supersedeas of the judgment in an action in the nature of a quo warranto, as well as in any other action. U. S. v. Addison, 24 How. 174. In that case Addison held the office of mayor of the city of Georgetown. Proceedings in the nature of quo warranto were commenced against him by the United States on the relation of Crawford. Upon the trial of the action, judgment of ouster was entered against the defendant. A writ of error from this court was sued out by him, and a sufficient bond was filed. The relator applied to this court for a peremptory writ of mandamus to be directed to the judges of the circuit court of the District of Columbia commanding them to execute the judgment of that court by which Addison had been ousted, and the relator adjudged entitled to the office. This court denied the motion, and decided that, after a writ of error had been sued out from this court, and the proper bond filed, further proceedings were stayed in the court below. It was not a case where, immediately upon the entering of the judgment of ouster, the court had directed the possession of the office to be taken by the relator, who had taken possession accordingly. The court was asked to actively intervene to put the relator in possession of the office, notwithstanding the allowance of a writ of error and the filing of a bond. The court refused to do so, holding that the supersedeas bond stayed further proceedings under the judgment.
In Foster v. Kansas, 112 U. S. 201, 5 Sup. Ct. 8, 97, the attorney general of Kansas had instituted a proceeding to remove Foster, the plaintiff in error, from the office of county attorney for Saline county. The supreme court of Kansas rendered judgment on the 1st of April, 1884, removing Foster, and, under a statute of the state making it his duty so to do, the judge of the district court of Saline county, upon being presented with an authenticated copy of the record of the supreme court which removed Foster, duly appointed Moore to such office, and approved his bond on the 7th of April. A writ of error from this court had been allowed in Washington on the 5th of April, and the supersedeas bond approved, and citation signed. Although notice of these facts was telegraphed on the same day from Washington to counsel in Kansas, who immediately exhibited the telegram to the judge of the district court, and notified him of what had been done in Washington, yet neither the writ of error nor the supersedeas bond arrived from Washington until the 8th of April, on which day they were duly lodged in the office of the clerk of the supreme court of the state. Moore, the appointee of the district judge, thereafter appeared as county attorney, and a rule was therefore granted requiring him to appear before this court, and show cause why he should not be adjudged in contempt for violating the supersedeas. This court, after argument, held that he was not in contempt, and that the supersedeas was not in force when Moore was ap ointed to and accepted the office. The court said: 'The judgment operated of itself to remove Foster, and leave his office vacant. It needed no execution to carry it into effect. The statute gave the judge of the district court authority to fill the vacancy thus created. The judge was officially notified of the vacancy on the 7th, when the authenticated copy of the record of the supreme court was presented to him. The operation of that judgment was not stayed by the supersedeas until the 8th; that being the date of the lodging of the writ of error in the clerk's office. It follows that the office was in fact vacant when Moore accepted his appointment. gave his bond, and took the requisite oath. He was thus in office before the supersedeas became operative. What effect the supersedeas had, when it was afterwards obtained, on the previous appointment, we need not consider. This is not an appropriate form of proceeding to determine whether Foster or Moore is now legally in office.' The rule was therefore discharged.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.