United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Canadian Northern Ry. Co. v. Eggen, 252 U.S. 553 (1920)

Canadian Northern Railway Company v. Eggen

No. 281

Argued March 1, 1920

Decided April 19, 1920

252 U.S. 553

Syllabus

The "privileges and immunities" clause of the Constitution, Art. IV, § 2, protects rights which are in their nature fundamental, including the right of a citizen of one state to institute and maintain action in the courts of another; but in that respect the requirement is satisfied if the nonresident be given access to the courts upon terms that are reasonable and adequate for enforcing whatever rights he may have, even though the terms be not the same as are accorded to resident citizens. P. 252 U. S. 562.

The power is in the courts, ultimately in this one, to decide whether the terms allowed the nonresident are reasonable and adequate. Id., .

A Minnesota statute, in force since 1858, provides that, when a cause of action has arisen outside of the state and, by the laws of the place

Page 252 U. S. 554

where it arose, an action thereon is there barred by lapse of time, no such action shall be maintained in the state unless the plaintiff be a citizen thereof who has owned the cause of action ever since it accrued. Held constitutional as applied to an action in Minnesota by a citizen of South Dakota against a Canadian corporation for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff in Canada, the Canadian limitation in such cases being one year, whereas the time allowed in Minnesota, apart from the above provision, is six yeas. P. 252 U. S. 559.

255 F.9d 7 reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.

Page 252 U. S. 558