United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Stevenson v. Fain, 195 U.S. 165 (1904)

Stevenson v. Fain

No. 8

Argued October 18-19, 1904

Decided November 7, 1904

195 U.S. 165

Syllabus

The circuit courts do not possess original jurisdiction over controversies between citizens of different states claiming lands under grants of different states by reason of the subject matter, and the decree of a circuit court of appeals in such a case is final and an appeal to this Court does not lie.

This was a bill filed by Stevenson and others, citizens and residents of New York and Rhode Island, against Fain and others, citizens and residents of North Carolina and Georgia, in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Tennessee, to remove a cloud upon the title to a

Page 195 U. S. 166

body of wild lands lying adjacent to the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina.

Complainants claimed title under grants from the State of Tennessee, and alleged that the lands lay wholly in Monroe County, Tennessee. Defendants alleged that the lands lay wholly within the County of Cherokee, in the State of North Carolina, and that they were lawfully granted to their ancestor by that state.

The issue involved the true boundary line between North Carolina and Tennessee. The circuit court held that the lands lay in the State of North Carolina, and that the title was in defendants, and dismissed the bill.

Thereupon an appeal was taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and, on hearing, the decree of the circuit court was affirmed. 116 F.1d 7.

From the decree of the circuit court of appeals this appeal was prosecuted.