Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/192/129/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-12-07 07:23:07
Document Index: 246424026

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 112', 'art. 766', 'Art. 1374', '§ 1868', '§ 1866', '§ 1908']

JAMES V. APPEL, 192 U. S. 129 - Volume 192 - 1904 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 192 > JAMES V. APPEL, 192 U. S. 129 (1904) > Full Text
The Arizona par. 837 is copied from a similar section in the Texas Code. Act of May 13, 1846, § 112, Hart's Dig.Texas Code, art. 766, 1 Sayles, Texas Civ.Stats. Art. 1374 [1372]. Long before its adoption in Arizona, the latter section had been construed in Texas as mandatory, and as discharging a motion by operation of law if not acted upon at the same term. It was held to put it out of the power of the court to postpone the motion for a new trial to the next term, and then to act upon it. If the requirement could be avoided by a continuance, it would be made almost nugatory. McKean v. Ziller, 9 Tex. 58; Bullock v. Ballew, 9 Tex. 498; Bass v. Hays, 38 Tex. 128. When a statute is taken in this way from another, even a foreign, state, it generally is presumed to be adopted with the construction which it has received. Tucker v. Oxley, 5 Cranch 34, 9 U. S. 42; Henrietta Mining and Milling Co. v. Gardner, 173 U. S. 123, 173 U. S. 130; Commonwealth v. Hartnett, 3 Gray, 450. See Coulam v. Doull, 133 U. S. 216. On this ground as well as that of the meaning of the words, the act had been construed as in Texas by the Supreme Court of Arizona. Ruff v. Hand, 24 P. 257. In view of the history of the section, we shall spend no more time upon the question. Even
were it more doubtful, we are of opinion that the amendment of 1891 to par. 842 makes the meaning plain. The words "then [necessarily after the end of the term] said motion shall be denied" show that the motion is disposed of at the end of the term. Furthermore, they do not mean that an order must be made out of term because of the failure to make an order within it, but mean that the motion shall be barred by the lapse of time, adopting the decision of the year before in Ruff v. Hand, and save an exception as if the motion had been denied by the court. The amendment assumes or enacts that the motion is to be deemed overruled at the end of the term, and has for its object to give the party an exception in case he appeals from the judgment, so that the propriety of granting the motion may be reviewed along with the other matters brought before the supreme court. See Spicer v. Simms, 57 P. 610.
Finally it is argued that the sections, construed as we construe them, are inconsistent with the grant of common law jurisdiction to the courts by Congress. Rev.Stat. §§ 1868, 1908. It is said that the right to grant new trials was a well recognized incident of common law jurisdiction, and that it cannot be taken away or cut down by the territorial legislature. In view of the provision in § 1866 that the jurisdiction given by § 1908 "shall be limited by law," and, indeed, apart from it, we should hesitate to say that the territorial legislature was prevented by the grant of common law jurisdiction, in general words, from doing away with new trials altogether. A rule of practice like this does not touch jurisdiction in any proper sense. Ferris v. Higley, 20 Wall. 375, cited by the appellant, has no application. Apart from other differences, that was a case of an attempt to confer original jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, both in chancery and common law, upon the probate courts. We certainly see nothing to prohibit the local legislature from making this not unusual or unreasonable rule.
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