Moran v. Hagerman/Opinion of the Court

by Melville Fuller

United States Supreme Court

151 U.S. 329

Moran  v.  Hagerman

Complainants below, appellants here, contend that the circuit court had no jurisdiction because the decree of February 2, 1891, was a final decree, and the court had no power, after the expiration of the term at which it was rendered, to entertain the motion and petition, and enter the order of May 9, 1892, and the decree of September 6, 1892, and, further, that the court had no jurisdiction to render affirmative judgments in favor of the defendants against the complainants, because no cross bill had been filed, and no proceedings had or taken, on which such judgments could properly be rendered. On the other hand, it is insisted that the questions raised do not involve the jurisdiction of the circuit court, in the sense in which the term is used in the act of March 3, 1891. Whether the decree of February 2, 1891, was a final decree; whether the objection that no cross bill had been filed came too late; whether the court could proceed in a summary way on petition; whether appearance and objection on the merits waived alleged irregularities; and whether these or like matters might bring a case within the first class named in the fifth section of the act of March 3, 1891,-we find it unecessary to consider, as no question of the jurisdiction of the circuit court was certified to this court for decision, and therefore, for the reasons given in Maynard v. Hecht, 14 Sup. Ct. 353, the appeal must be dismissed.

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