United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Piquignot v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 57 U.S. 16 How. 104 104 (1853)

Piquignot v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company

57 U.S. (16 How.) 104

Syllabus

Under the twenty-second section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, this Court cannot reverse the judgment of he court below for error in ruling any plea in abatement other than a plea to the jurisdiction of the Court.

In Pennsylvania it is not usual to make a record of the judgment in any legal form. But there is no necessity that the courts of the United States should follow such careless precedents.

Where a suit was brought in which the plaintiff was described as a citizen of France against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, without any averment that the defendants were a corporation under the laws of Pennsylvania or that the place of business of the corporation was there or that its corporators, managers, or directors were citizens of Pennsylvania, the absence of such an averment was fatal to the jurisdiction of the Court.

The facts in the case are stated in the opinion of the Court.

Page 57 U. S. 105