Godfrey v. Myers

The courts of justices of the peace in this country, in most of the states, perhaps in all, have jurisdiction in civil causes, a jurisdiction conferred by statute. They are courts of limited jurisdiction, for the most part not of record, ■and not proceeding according to the course of the common •law, but deciding controversies of small pecuniary importance in a summary way. Their authority depends strictly upon statute, and varies in its object and extent in every state. Their jurisdiction, therefore, cannot be presumed, but must be proved. They are not, and ought not to be, entitled to the…