Pacific Railroad v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 federal appellate · 4 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““This act provides that when any defendant in a suit in equity to enforce any equitable lien or claim against real or personal property in the district where the suit is brought is not an inhabitant of nor found within the district, and does not voluntarily appear thereto, it shall be lawful for the court to make an order directing such absent defendant to appear and plead, answer or demur, to the complainant’s bill on a certain day therein to be designated; and the said order shall be served on such absent defendant wherever found, or, where such personal service is not practicable, shall be published in such manner as the court shall direct. If the absent defendant fails to appear and' plead within the time limited, the court is authorized to entertain jurisdiction and proceed to the hearing of the suit. The act is silent on the subject of the evidence that will authorize the making of an order for substituted service. The marshal’s return to a subpoena that one or more of the defendants cannot be found within the district would, no doubt, authorize the court to enter such an order. But this is not the only evidence that will authorize the court to enter an order for substituted service. An affidavit such as was produced in this case is sufficient evidence that the defendants named in it are not inhabitants of the district. When it is made to appear at the commencement of the suit, or at any subsequent time, that a defendant is not an inhabitant of the district, and cannot ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. American Lumber Co.

2. ““It may be conceded for the purposes of this motion that it is to a certain extent auxiliary to the original foreclos'ure suit, and that proceedings to set aside that decree, and to set aside also the sale of the railroad under that decree, can only be instituted in the Circuit Court of the United States in which that decree was rendered. But it also partakes so far of the nature of an original suit that the parties who are here contesting service of this process cannot be brought before the court by anything short of a subpoena in chancery, and cannot be compelled to answer and respond to the allegations of the present bill in any other mode than in the mode usually adopted in original chancery bills. The argument that in such a case as this a subpoena in chancery can be issued, so as to run beyond the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of the court, and be validly served beyond that jurisdiction, overlooks two important propositions: (1) It is of the essence of the power and jurisdiction of all courts that their process is of no validity beyond the territory in which the court sits, and to which its jurisdiction extends. If, therefore, there is no other statute on the subject than simply that the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Missouri shall have jurisdiction coextensive with the limits of the district, it would follow logically from this limitation upon the inherent power of all courts that its process shall be of no validity beyond its ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Manning v. Berdan

3. “, “The argument, by which it is endeavored to support the service of process upon persons without the district, is 'that the present suit is one that is auxiliary to the former suit' in which the decree of foreclosure was had; that it is so far merely a continuation of that, suit; and that it is not a new and original suit. '* * * It may be conceded for the purposes of this motion that it is to a certain extent auxiliary to the original foreclosure suit. * * * But it also partakes so far of the nature of an original suit that the parties who are here contesting service of this process cannot be brought before the court by anything short of a subpoena in chancery; and cannot be compelled to answer and respond to the allegations of the present bill in any other mode than in the mode usually adopted in original chancery bills.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Schmitt v. Lamb