The Act of Congress passed in May, 1828, 4 Stat. 278, directs
that the forms and modes of proceeding in the courts of the United
States in suits at common law in the states admitted into the Union
since 1789 shall be the same with those of the highest court of
original jurisdiction in the state.
Therefore, where the State of Alabama passed an act to abolish
fictitious proceedings in ejectments and to substitute in their
place the action of trespass for the purpose of trying the title to
lands and recovering their possession, the circuit court of the
United States should have conformed, in its mode of proceeding, to
the law of the state.
And the judgment of the circuit court, dismissing an action of
trespass so brought upon the ground that the law of the state was
not in force in the circuit court was erroneous.
Page 51 U. S. 188
In August, 1845, Sherburne Sears brought an action of trespass
quare clausum fregit in the Circuit Court of the United
States for the Southern District of Alabama. The short note,
expressive of the cause of action, filed at the time of issuing the
writ declared it to be "as well to try titles as to recover
damages," &c., and the declaration described a particular lot
in the City of Mobile, where the trespass was alleged to have been
committed.
In April, 1846, the counsel for the defendant moved the court to
dismiss the suit because the statute of Alabama entitled "An act to
abolish fictitious proceedings in ejectment, and for other purposes
therein mentioned," approved December 17, 1821, under which the
suit was brought, did not extend to the circuit court, and the
court, being of that opinion, dismissed the suit.
The plaintiff sued out a writ of error, and brought the case up
to this Court.
Page 51 U. S. 189
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY delivered the opinion of the Court.
The point in this case is a narrow one, and concerns only the
practice in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern
District of Alabama.
It appears that in 1821 an act was passed by the legislature of
that state to abolish fictitious proceedings in ejectment and to
substitute in their place the action of trespass for the purpose of
trying the title to lands and recovering the possession.
In the case before us, an action of trespass was brought by the
plaintiff in error against the defendant for the purpose of
recovering a certain parcel of land to which he claimed title. The
writ was endorsed in the manner required by the statute of Alabama,
and the declaration was in the usual form of an action of trespass.
There does not appear to have been either plea or demurrer put in
by the defendant nor any issue of fact or law joined between the
parties. But the defendant by his counsel moved the court to
dismiss the suit upon the ground that the law of the state was not
in force in the circuit court of the United States, and the
district judge then holding the circuit court, being of that
opinion, dismissed the suit and gave judgment in favor of the
defendant for his costs.
This decision is evidently erroneous. The Act of May, 1828, 4
Stat. 278, in express terms directs that the forms and modes of
proceeding in the courts of the United States in suits at common
law in the states admitted into the Union since 1789, shall be the
same with those of the highest court of original jurisdiction in
the state. Alabama is one of the states admitted since 1789, and
the act of Congress therefore makes it obligatory upon the courts
of the United States to conform in their mode of proceeding to the
law of the state. The law of the state, of itself, undoubtedly was
not obligatory upon the courts of the United States. But it is made
so by the act of Congress.
The judgment of the circuit court must therefore be
Reversed with costs.
Page 51 U. S. 190
Order
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern
District of Alabama and was argued by counsel. On consideration
whereof it is now here ordered and adjudged by this Court that the
judgment of the said circuit court in this cause be and the same is
hereby reversed with costs, and that this cause be and the same is
hereby remanded to the said circuit court with directions for
further proceedings to be had therein in conformity to the opinion
of this Court and as to law and justice shall appertain.