Short v. Kennedy

Jurisdiction is determined by the allegations of the pleadings, and the majority opinion recites that the complaint filed in the justice court alleged that “The defendant cut and converted to his own use 3,234 feet of pine logs from the lands of the plaintiff.” It would be difficult, if not impossible, to cut that amount of timber without entering upon the lands upon which it stood, so that the complaint alleges a trespass upon land, and the character of the suit is not affected by the allegation that the defendant converted the timber after cutting it down.

The instant case is identical with…