United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Taylor v. Morton, 67 U.S. 2 Black 481 481 (1862)

Taylor v. Morton

67 U.S. (2 Black) 481

Syllabus

1. A case coming into this Court from the circuit court on a writ of error issued under the 22d section of the Judiciary Act, when the record shows that no exception was taken below, is not to be treated like a case with a similar record which comes up from a state court under the 26th section.

2. In a case which comes from a state court under the 25th section, it must appear by the record that some one of the questions stated in that section arose and was determined, otherwise this Court is wholly without jurisdiction and can only dismiss the writ.

3. If the cause is brought up from a circuit court, it is to be either affirmed or reversed, and it will of course be affirmed if the record does not present some ground of reversal.

This was a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts. It was like the case of

Page 67 U. S. 482

Curtis v. Fiedler, supra, an action of assumpsit against a collector of customs for exacting excessive duties on an importation of hemp from Russia. The questions raised and argued in the court below were the same as those presented to the Circuit Court of New York in Curtis v. Fiedler, but they were decided differently, the verdict and judgment in this case being in favor of the defendant, and it was the plaintiff who took this writ of error. It did not, however, appear from the record that the ruling of the court on any question of law was objected to on the trial, and there was no bill of exceptions which made either the evidence or the instructions of the court a part of the record.