Sizer v. Many

by Roger B. Taney

United States Supreme Court

57 U.S. 98

Sizer  v.  Many

THIS case was brought up by writ of error, from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts.

Mr. George T. Curtis, on behalf of the defendant in error, moved to dismiss the writ of error for the want of jurisdiction.

The circumstances were these:

At the October term, in the year 1848, of the Circuit Court of the United States for Massachusetts District, Many, the defendant in error, recovered a judgment against the plaintiffs in error, in an action for the infringement of letters-patent, which was entered and recorded in the words following:

'It is thereupon considered by the court that the said William V. Many recover against the said George W. and Henry Sizer the sum of seventeen hundred and thirty-three dollars and seventy-five cents damages, and costs of suit taxed at _____.'

The said Sizers thereupon, at the same term of the Circuit Court, sued out a writ of error to this court, for the purpose of having the said judgment revised. This writ of error was duly entered and prosecuted in this court, and at the December term, 1851, the judgment of the Circuit Court was affirmed by a divided court, and therefore it is not reported in Howard.

The mandate which went down, recited the judgment of the Circuit Court as above given, and then proceeded thus:

'You therefore are hereby commanded that such execution and proceedings be had in said cause as, according to right and justice and the laws of the United States, ought to be had, the said writ of error notwithstanding.'

On the receipt of this mandate, the attorney for the defendant in error (the original plaintiff below) presented the same to the Circuit Court, held by the district judge, and applied for leave to have the costs in the action taxed and inserted in the blank left in the original record of the judgment. This motion was refused by the district judge.

The defendant in error thereupon, at the December term of this court, in the year 1852, applied to this court for a mandamus to direct the court below to tax and allow his costs in the original action, amounting to $1,811.59. The court refused the application, for reasons which appear in the case. Ex parte Many, 14 Howard, 24.

In May, 1853, Mr. Curtis, counsel for Many, renewed his motion to the district judge, setting out in writing the mandate of this court in the original cause, and the amount of the costs, and praying the court to make an order allowing of their taxation and insertion in the original judgment; and praying for execution as directed by the mandate of this court.

Opposition was made to this motion by Sizer et al., but the motion was granted, as appears by the following extract from the record. It is proper to remark that the court was held by the district judge alone, Mr. Justice Curtis having been of counsel and not sitting. The costs in the Circuit Court amounted to $1,811.59.

Notes