final decree
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 47 U.S. 201 - Forgay v. Conrad · 1848Most cited · 605 citing opinions
for purposes of appeal
when the decree decides the right to the property in contest, and directs it to be delivered up by the defendant to the complainant, or directs it to be sold, or directs the defendant to pay a certain sum of money to the complainant, and the complainant is entitled to have such decree carried immediately into execution, the decree must be regarded as a final one to that extent, and authorizes an appeal to this court, although so much of the bill is retained in the Circuit Court as is necessary for the purpose of adjusting by a further decree the accounts between the parties pursuant to the decree passed.
How the Supreme Court has restated “final decree”
Each Supreme Court definition of “final decree,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “final decree”
Court decisions citing the 16 opinions that defined “final decree” — 1,270 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 16 definitions, chronological · 1806–1872
- ORIGINAL
The court, however, is of opinion, that a decree for a sale under a mortgage, is such a final decree as may be appealed from.
appealability of a mortgage-foreclosure sale
The decree of the Circuit Court was not final in the sense of the act of Congress. The damages remain undisposed of, and an appeal may still lie upon that part of the decree awarding damages. The whole cause is not, therefore, finally determined in the Circuit Court; and we are of opinion that the cause cannot be divided, so as to bring up successively distinct parts of it.
no piecemeal appeal
To authorize an appeal, the decree must be final in all matters within the pleadings, so that an affirmance of the decree will end the suit.
for purposes of appeal
When a decree finally decides and disposes of the whole merits of the cause, and reserves no further questions or directions for the future judgment of the court, so that it will not be necessary to bring the cause again before the court for its final decision, it is a final decree. It is true, a decree may be final, although it directs a reference to a master, if all the consequential directions depending upon the result of the master's report are contained in the decree, so that no further decree of the court will be necessary, upon the confirmation of the report, to give the parties the entire and full benefit of the previous decision of the court.
when reservation of master's account does not destroy finality
In no sense was this a final decree on which an appeal could be sustained. It is, in effect, the same as ordering an execution on a judgment at law, which had been affirmed on error, and remanded for execution to the Circuit Court.
no appeal would lie from the District to the Circuit Court until there was a final decree upon the whole case—that is, not until all the claims on the money in the registry had been ascertained and adjusted, and the whole amount of the proceeds of the sale of the vessel distributed, by the decree, among the parties which the District Court deemed to be entitled, according to their respective priorities and rights.
admiralty appeal
This decree is final. It is decisive of the case made upon the record. It is positive, and not alternative. It leaves no question of right between the parties open for future adjudication
a decree for the sale of mortgaged premises is a final decree from which an appeal lies. The Court rested their decision on the ground that when the mortgage was foreclosed and a sale ordered, the merits of the controversy were finally settled, and the subsequent proceedings were simply a means of executing the decree.
A decree in a prize cause must be regarded as final within the meaning of the Judiciary Acts where it disposed of the whole matter in controversy upon the claim of the parties, was final as to them and their rights, and left nothing to be litigated between these parties.
When the decree decides the right to the property in contest, and directs it to be delivered up by the defendant to the complainant, or directs it to be sold, or directs the defendant to pay a certain sum of money to the complainant, and the complainant is entitled to have such decree carried immediately into execution, the decree must be regarded as a final one to that extent, and authorizes an appeal to this court, although so much of the bill is retained in the Circuit Court as is necessary for the purpose of adjusting by further decree the accounts between the parties pursuant to the decree passed.
During the term, the decree was, at all times, subject to be rescinded or modified, upon motion, and could not, therefore, be regarded as absolutely final, until the end of the term.
a decree which adjudges a certain sum of money to be due from a defendant to the complainant, and awards execution to collect it, is a final decree conclusive upon the parties. A decree is not the less final in its nature, because some future orders of the court may possibly become necessary to carry such final decree into effect.
Decrees in equity, in order that they may be re-examined in this court, must be final decrees rendered in term time, as contradistinguished from mere interlocutory decrees or orders which may be entered at chambers, or, if entered in court, are still subject to revision at the final hearing.
a decree of affirmance, without taxation of costs and without specifying the sum for which it is rendered, is not to be regarded as a final decree
The only decree rendered in the Supreme Court was that the injunction of the court below be dissolved. That decree was in no sense final. It left the whole case to be disposed of upon its merits.