Matter

Occurs in some technical phrases. Matter in controversy, or in dispute. Statutes conferring jurisdiction frequently limit it to causes in which the matter in controversy, or matter in dispute, exceeds a certain sum. The right of appeal is often limited in like manner. In general, the matter in controversy, or in dispute, in an original suit, is that which is demanded by the plaintiff, irrespective of admissions or denials in the answer; and under many statutes allowing appeal the same principle is applied. The claim put forward by the plaintifi at the outset is deemed the matter in dispute; and, if this is for a sum which gives jurisdiction, the courts may act throughout the suit, notwithstanding some portion is admitted or adjudicated upon, so that, in later stages of the cause, a less sum is all that is practically in controversy. But this rule is not invariable: the intent and construction of the particular statute must govern. By " matter in dispute," in a statute predicating appellate jurisdiction on the value of the matter in dispute, is meant the subject of litigation, — the matter for which the suit is brought, and on which issue is joined, and in relation to which juiors are called and witnesses examined. In an action on a money demand, where the general issue is pleaded, the matter in dispute is the debt claimed; and Its amount, as stated in the body of the declaration, and not merely the damages alleged, or the prayer for judgment at its conclusion, must be considered in determining the question whether the damages alleged or theprayer f or judgment., Lee V Watson, 1 Watt. 337. It is not the verdict or judgment which ascertains the value of the matter in dispute between the parties. To determine this, recurrence must he had to the original controversy, — to the matter in dispute ■when the action was instituted. The thing demanded, and not the thing found, constitutes the matter in dispute between the parties.

Wilson V. Daniel, 3 Ball. 401.

The amount due at the institution of the suit constitutes the matter in dispute. Hence an appeal will not lie on an interests bearing claim which was not sufficient in amount to give jurisdiction at the time the suit was instituted, although the interest which accrued after suit instituted, and before appeal taken, increased the amount of the claim so as to bring it within the jurisdictional limitation.

Mason v. Oglesby, 2 La. Ann. 793; Frellsen v. Copley, Id. 911; Owen V. Boyd, 7 Id. 109; Cornell v. Geddes, 10 Id. 170; Klein v. Wild, 12 Id. 87.

An act which gives an appeal or error, where the matter in dispute shall exceed a value specified, does not give a review in a criminal case. The words " the matter in dispute " seem appropriate to civil causes, where the subject in contest is of a value beyond the sum mentioned in the act. In criminal cases, the question is the guilt or Innocence of the accused; and, although he may be fined upwards of flOO, yet that is, in the eye of the law, a punishment for the offence, and not the particular object of the suit.

United States v. More, 3 Crunch, 159.

Matter in deed. That which may most properly be established by means of a sealed instrument; also, sometimes, matter of fact, in distinction to matter of law.

— Matter in deed is some private matter or thing contained in a deed between two or more parties; as the covenants or recitals in a lease, or in a mortgage deed, for instance; and these, although enrolled, — that is, transcribed upon the records of one of the queen's courts at Westminster, or at a court of quarter sessions, as they often are, for safe custody, — do not thereby become matter of record, but are simple deeds re- Corded or enrolled;

— for there is a material dif Eerence between a matter of record and matter recorded for the purpose of being kept in memory: a record being an entry on parchment of judicial matters or proceedings which have taken place in a court of record, and of which the court takes judicial notice, as matter coming peculiarly under its own cognizance; whereas the enrolment of a deed is a private act of the parties concerned, of which the court takes no cognizance at the time when it is done.

Broitm. timony of witnesses to what they have perceived. Matter of form. An important distinction, in determining the sui Bciency of pleadings and proceedings, is taken between matters of form and matters of substance. No definite general rule can be given for discriminating between these. The general principle is that whatever pertains to the purpose of the instrument, to the objects to be accomplished by it, or to any right involved or afiected, is matter of substance; while what relates merely to the language or expression, without aflfecting the issue presented, the evidence requisite, the rights of either party, or the steps necessary to be taken in furtherance of the proceedings, is matter of form. The importance of this distinction relates chiefly to the effect attributable to errors and defects, which, in matters of form, may be amended or disregarded much more readily than when in the substance. How the distinction will be applied varies in different jurisdictions and proceedings. Many things deemed matter of substance in criminal proceedings, where liberty or life is at stake, are closely analogous to things deemed matter of form only in civil causes. In actions under the reformed codes of procedure, and in suits in admiralty and equity, the rule is more liberal than under common-law rules, except as they have been modified by modem legislation. Matter of law. Whatever is to be ascertained by reasoning from the principles of jurisprudence, or from the enactments of the legislature and adjudications of the courts. Matter in pais. This expression usually signifies that which, being matter of fact, is not evidenced by writing, but must be established by oral testimony to what has been said or done by the person involved. Matter in pais simply means matter of fact, — probably so called because matters of fact are triable by the country, i.e. by a jury. An example of an estoppel by matter in pais occurs when one man has accepted rent of another. In such case, he will be estopped from afterwards denying, in any action with such person, that the latter was at the time of such acceptance his tenant. Brown. Matter of record. That which has been embodied in, and may properly be established by, the official documents authenticating judicial acts or proceedings. Matter of record signifies some judicial matter or proceeding entered upon one of pleadings in an action in the superior courts, and in the courts of record, being n^atter which is entered upon the records of the court, and filed with its officer as an authentic history of the suit, are thence termed a matter of record. Brown. Matters of subsistence for man. This phrase comprehends all articles or things, whether animal or vegetable, living or dead, which are used for food, and whether they are consumed in the form in which they are bought from the producer, or are only consumed after undergoing a process of preparation, which is greater or less, according to the character of the article.

Sledd v. Commonwealth, 19 GrcM. 813.

Matter of substance. The antithesis of matter of form, q. v.