United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Pearson v. Yewdall, 95 U.S. 294 (1877)

Pearson v. Yewdall

95 U.S. 294

Syllabus

1. Where a writ of error is defective in the statement of the parties thereto, the right to amend is not absolute under sec. 1005, Rev. Stat., but the court, in its discretion, may allow the requisite amendment to be made upon such terms as it may deem just.

2. As both parties severally claim compensation for land taken by the City of Philadelphia for public use, the city, the only adverse party to them in the proceedings below, is an indispensable party to the writ.

3. The Court declines to allow an amendment making the city such party, inasmuch as the questions made by the assignment of error have been settled by repeated decisions and are no longer open to discussion here.

4. The Seventh Amendment to the Constitution, touching the right of trial by jury, applies only to the courts of the United States.

5. The act of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania entitled "An Act relating to roads, highways, and bridges," approved July 13, 1836, makes ample provision for judicial inquiry in the matters therein mentioned, and is due process of law, within the meaning of the federal Constitution.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.