United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Public Service Co. v. Corboy, 250 U.S. 153 (1919)

Public Service Company of Northern Illinois v. Corboy

No. 258

Argued March 20, 1919

Decided June 2, 1919

250 U.S. 153

Syllabus

The district court has jurisdiction over a suit to enjoin a state officer, acting under color of his official authority, from executing a state law in alleged violation of constitutional rights, even though such injunction may, in effect, render the law inoperative until the constitutional question has been judicially determined. P. 250 U. S. 159.

Section 265 of the Judicial Code, forbidding the granting of injunctions by courts of the United States to stay proceedings in any state court except when authorized in bankruptcy cases, refers only to proceedings in which a final judgment or order has not been entered and in which the power exerted is judicial, as distinguished by the Constitution from powers legislative and executive. Id.

Where a state law empowers a court, on petition made and on notice to property owners, to establish drainage districts, assess benefits, and appoint commissioners to carry on the work under the court's supervision, a suit in the district court by a resident of another state, not a party to such a proceeding, to enjoin the commissioner so appointed from constructing a ditch so authorized upon the ground that it would impair plaintiff's constitutional rights in a stream in its residence without due process of law is not inhibited by Jud.Code § 265. Id.

Questions of comity and of the sufficiency of the plaintiff's averments to justify relief are not before this Court on a direct appeal involving only the jurisdiction of the district court. P. 250 U. S. 162.

Reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.

Page 250 U. S. 157