State Ex Rel. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. District Court

It has long been the custom of courts in reviewing the decrees in equity cases where all of the facts were presented on an appeal, and showed that the cause was ripe for an ultimate decision, to make such disposition of the case as the court below ought to have made. As early as the year 1800 Chancellor Kent, in Le Guen v. Gouverneur, 1 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.), at page 508, 1 Am. Dec. 121, pointed out that this was a “leading maxim” of appellate jurisdiction in England; that since our system of jurisprudence was borrowed from that country, in the absence of express and peremptory statutory…