United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Chicago Junction Ry. Co. v. King, 222 U.S. 222 (1911)

Chicago Junction Railway Company v. King

No. 34

Argued November 2, 3, 1911

Decided December 11, 1911

222 U.S. 222

Syllabus

The repugnancy of the Safety Appliance Law to the Constitution is not now open to controversy; it has been held constitutional. Southern Railway Co. v. United States, ante, p. 222 U. S. 20.

Where the constitutional question is not advanced by the defendant until the trial, it does not give jurisdiction of an appeal to this Court from the Circuit Court of Appeals. Macfadden v. United States, 213 U. S. 288.

Where the cause of action is based on a statute of the United States, there is an appeal to this Court from the judgment of the circuit court of appeals.

Although there may be jurisdiction because the cause of action rests on a statute of the United States, where none of the contentions directly invokes the interpretation of the statute, but merely the question whether, on the evidence, there was a right of recovery, the case is of the character of case in which it was the purpose of the Judiciary Act of 1891 to make the judgment of the circuit court of appeals final, and this Court will only examine the record to see if plain error has been committed, and if that is not apparent, it will, as in this case, affirm the judgment.

169 F.3d 2 affirmed.