Hulsecamp v. Teel
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania
This was an action for an assault and battery committed on the high seas, and the damages were laid in the declaration at 1000 dollars; but the controversy being referred, the referees reported only 45 dollars in favor of the plaintiff.
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This was an action for an assault and battery committed on the high seas, and the damages were laid in the declaration at 1000 dollars; but the controversy being referred, the referees reported only 45 dollars in favor of the plaintiff. In April term, 1795, Mr. Levy, for the defendant, obtained a rule to shew cause, why the report of the referees should not be quashed, and the action dismissed; and the question was now argued by him on the one side, and by Mr. Rawle upon the other. In support of the rule, Mr. Levy, having adverted to the 3d article of the constitution of the United States, as…
1Opinion of the Court
BY THE COURT.
That the sum, or value of the object in controversy, should amount to 500 dollars, was deemed by the legislature a reasonable limit to the jurisdiction- *869or this court; but the law has itself, likewise, provided the remedy against any transgression of that limitation, by declaring that the plaintiff, who recovers less, may be adjudged to pay costs. The very force of the expression vests a jurisdiction; since it would be impossible to adjudge that the plaintiff should pay costs, without taking cognizance of the cause. But whatever distinction might be made in other respects,…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Hulsecamp v. TeelSupreme Court of the United States · 1796