Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/245/166/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-12-13 15:18:38
Document Index: 751664611

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 250', '§ 250', '§ 251', '§ 239', '§ 251', '§ 250']

ARANT V. LANE, 245 U. S. 166 - Volume 245 - 1917 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 245 > ARANT V. LANE, 245 U. S. 166 (1917) > Full Text
It is not open to controversy that the judgments or decrees of the court below are not made final by § 250 in cases involving the interpretation and effect of an act of Congress general in character or the general duty or power of an officer under the law of the United States, as contradistinguished from merely local authority. American Security & Trust Co. v. District of Columbia, 224 U. S. 491; McGowan v. Parish, 228 U. S. 312; United Surety Co. v. American Fruit Co., 238 U. S. 140; Newman v. Frizzell, 238 U. S. 537. This being true, it is apparent that, as this case is of the character just stated, it was not one coming within the authority conferred to certify, which is confined to cases where the judgments or decrees of the court are made final under § 250. The unambiguous command of the text excludes the necessity for interpretation. But, if it be conceded for the sake of argument that there is necessity for interpretation, the
briefest consideration will reveal the coincidence between the animating spirit of the provision and the obvious result of its plain text. It is undoubted that the authority to certify conferred upon the Court of Appeals of the District by § 251 did not previously exist in that court in any case. The circuit courts of appeals, however, had undoubtedly under the Act of 1891, a power to certify. Section 6, 26 Stat. 828, c. 517. But while, by the terms of that act, such authority apparently extended to "every such subject within its appellate jurisdiction," it came to be settled that, by limitations found in the text, such power to certify was restricted to cases in which the judgments or decrees of the circuit courts of appeals were final, and therefore not susceptible of being of right otherwise reviewed in this Court. Columbus Watch Co. v. Robbins, 148 U. S. 266, 148 U. S. 268; Bardes v. Hawarden First National Bank, 175 U. S. 526, 175 U. S. 527. Coming to provide concerning this situation, the Judicial Code enlarged the power of a circuit court of appeals by conferring authority to certify "any case within its appellate jurisdiction" (§ 239), but, in giving power to certify for the first time to the Court of Appeals of the District, expressly limited it to cases "in which its judgment or decree is made final" (§ 251). The expansion of authority conferred upon the circuit courts of appeals at the same time that the restricted authority was conferred upon the Court of Appeals of the District makes manifest the legislative intent to give a greater power in the one case than in the other.
It is true that, in Bauer v. O'Donnell, 229 U. S. 1, and Equitable Surety Co. v. McMillan, 234 U. S. 448, controversies were determined on certificates made and questions based thereon by the Court of Appeals of the District. But, in both cases, the judgment or decree of the court below if rendered would have been final within the purview of § 250 of the Judicial Code; the first, because it arose under the patent laws, and the second, because it
concerned an act of Congress of local application. Even, however, upon the assumption that the cases are susceptible of a different view, as no question was raised in either concerning the power to certify and the limitation to which it was subjected by the statute, the mere fact that the cases were entertained affords no ground for holding them as authoritative on the question before us, and thereby causing the statute to embrace a power which it excluded by both its letter and spirit. United States v. More, 3 Cranch 159, 7 U. S. 172; Louisville Trust Co. v. Knott, 191 U. S. 225, 191 U. S. 236.
Powered by Justia US Supreme Court Center: ARANT V. LANE, 245 U. S. 166 (1917)