United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Ellenwood v. Marietta Chair Co., 158 U.S. 105 (1895)

Ellenwood v. Marietta Chair Company

No. 234

Argued April 11, 15,1895

Decided May 6, 1895

158 U.S. 105

Syllabus

By the law of those states of the Union whose jurisprudence is based on the common law, an action for trespass upon land can only be brought within the state in which the land lies.

A count alleging a continuing trespass upon land, and the cutting and conversion of timber growing thereon, states a single cause of action, in which the trespass upon the land is the principal thing, and the conversion of the timber is incidental only, and cannot be maintained by proof of the conversion, without also proving the trespass upon the land.

Page 158 U. S. 106

A court sitting in one state, before which is brought an action for trespass upon land in another state, may rightly order the case to be stricken from its docket, although no question of jurisdiction is made by demurrer or plea.

The case is stated in the opinion.