declaratory judgment
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 401 U.S. 66 - Samuels v. J Mackell Fernandez · 1971Most cited · 2,546 citing opinions
a suit for declaratory judgment was nevertheless 'essentially an equitable cause of action,' and was 'analogous to the equity jurisdiction in suits quia timet or for a decree quieting title
How the Supreme Court has restated “declaratory judgment”
Each Supreme Court definition of “declaratory judgment,” 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 “declaratory judgment”
Court decisions citing the 7 opinions that defined “declaratory judgment” — 6,421 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 7 definitions, chronological · 1928–1971
- ORIGINAL
What the plaintiff seeks is simply a declaratory judgment. To grant that relief is beyond the power conferred upon the federal judiciary.
What plaintiffs are seeking is, therefore, in substance, a declaratory judgment that the railway is within the exemption contained in paragraph 22 of the act. Such a remedy is not within either the statutory or the equity jurisdiction of federal courts.
The statutory authority to render declaratory judgments permits federal courts by a new form of procedure to exercise the jurisdiction to decide cases or controversies, both at law and in equity, which the Judiciary Acts had already conferred. The jurisdiction, praying an adjudication of rights in anticipation of their threatened infringement, is analogous to the equity jurisdiction in suits quia timet or for a decree quieting title.
federal procedure
available in the federal courts only in cases involving an actual case or controversy, where the issue is actual and adversary, and it may not be made the medium for securing an advisory opinion in a controversy which has not arisen
A declaratory judgment, like other forms of equitable relief, should be granted only as a matter of judicial discretion, exercised in the public interest.
Where an official's authority to act depends upon the status of the person affected, in this case eligibility for citizenship, that status, when in dispute, may be determined by a declaratory judgment proceeding after the exhaustion of administrative remedies.
administrative status dispute