Opinion ID: 1186922
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: State v. Federal Jurisdiction

Text: The Siren call is irresistible to immerse oneself in the romanticism inherent in this case: a parley between the representative of His Majesty's Governor and Captain General of New Mexico, Captain Miguel Tenorio de Alba, at the Pueblo of San Geronimo de los Taos with the Royal Houses of the said Pueblo, the Casique and other aged Indians; time-worn Spanish documents; ancient Indian ruins and the lore of Indian possession of the land since time immemorial; tracing the history of the sixty thousand acre land grant and the family tree of Antonio Martinez over a two hundred sixty year span; and fascinating testimony from aged Indians and learned experts in Indian and Spanish history. Meanwhile, back at the courthouse, a close look at the law tints the poetic background with irrelevance and forces upon us a more prosaic question of jurisdiction. Suazo now challenges the jurisdiction of the state courts to have heard or decided the Manby case, although this issue was not raised at any level in that suit. This claim is based on the theory of exclusive jurisdiction being in the federal courts. In any event, the contention is not meritorious for the reason that the Organic Act of September 9, 1850, ch. 49, § 10, 9 Stat. 446 (1850) created dual original jurisdiction, giving the territorial district courts and the Territorial Supreme Court local jurisdiction and specifying that the territorial district courts were to exercise the same jurisdiction for cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States as is vested in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, and that appeal to the Territorial Supreme Court should be allowed in all cases. In the case of Ex parte Crow Dog, 109 U.S. 556, 3 S.Ct. 396, 27 L.Ed. 1030 (1883) the Court explained this type of double jurisdiction as follows: The district court has two distinct jurisdictions. As a Territorial court it administers the local law of the Territorial government; as invested by act of Congress with jurisdiction to administer the laws of the United States, it has all the authority of circuit and district courts. Id. at 560, 3 S.Ct. at 398. This law was in effect at the time the Manby suit was filed. Since the Taos District Court was the only court available to Manby, it cannot be said that he picked the wrong forum.