Lake County Commissioners v. Dudley, 173 U.S. 243 (1899)
U.S. Supreme Court
Lake County Commissioners v. Dudley, 173 U.S. 243 (1899)
Lake County Commissioners v. Dudley
No. 177
Argued December 14-15, 1898
Decided February 20, 1899
173 U.S. 243
Syllabus
The instruments sued on in this case being payable to bearer, and having been made by a corporation, are expressly excepted by the Judiciary Act of August 13, 1888, c. 866, from the general rule prescribed is it that an assignee or subsequent holder of a promissory note or chose in action could not sue in a circuit or district court of the United States unless his assignor or transferor could have sued in such court.
From the evidence of Dudley himself, the plaintiff below, it is clear that he does not own any of the coupons sued on, and that his name is being used with his own consent, to give jurisdiction to the circuit court to render judgment for persons who could not have invoked the jurisdiction of a federal court, and the trial court, on its own motion, should have dismissed the case without considering the merits.
The case is stated in the opinion.