Sheldon v. Sill, , is a ruling by the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
in which the Court held that while
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
may not limit the subjects the Supreme Court may hear, the Constitution does not so restrain it where lower
federal courtsThe United States federal courts comprises the Judiciary Branch of government organized under the Constitution and laws of the federal government of the United States...
are concerned.
Article III of the
United States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
vestsThe Vesting clauses refer to a provisions in Article I, Section 1; Article II, Section 1, Clause 1; and Article III, Section 1 of the United States Constitution; which vest the legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the Congress, president, and Supreme Court, respectively.-Text:Article I,...
"the Judicial Power of the United States...in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish," and extends the jurisdiction of said courts to:
- "all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects." http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html#3.2.1
Congress exercised its power to "ordain and establish" such inferior Courts, the circuit courts, in the
Judiciary Act of 1869The Judiciary Act of 1869 , also called the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, was a United States statute that made two important reforms of the federal judiciary....
.
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Sheldon v. Sill, , is a ruling by the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
in which the Court held that while
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
may not limit the subjects the Supreme Court may hear, the Constitution does not so restrain it where lower
federal courtsThe United States federal courts comprises the Judiciary Branch of government organized under the Constitution and laws of the federal government of the United States...
are concerned.
Article III of the
United States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
vestsThe Vesting clauses refer to a provisions in Article I, Section 1; Article II, Section 1, Clause 1; and Article III, Section 1 of the United States Constitution; which vest the legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the Congress, president, and Supreme Court, respectively.-Text:Article I,...
"the Judicial Power of the United States...in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish," and extends the jurisdiction of said courts to:
- "all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects." http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html#3.2.1
Congress exercised its power to "ordain and establish" such inferior Courts, the circuit courts, in the
Judiciary Act of 1869The Judiciary Act of 1869 , also called the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, was a United States statute that made two important reforms of the federal judiciary....
. However:
- The eleventh section of the Judiciary Act, which defines the jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts, restrains them from taking 'cognizance of any suit to recover the contents of any promissory note or other chose in action, in favor of an assignee, unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such court to recover the contents, if no assignment had been made, except in cases of foreign bills of exchange' . . . It must be admitted, that if the Constitution had ordained and established the inferior courts, and distributed to them their respective powers, they could not be restricted or divested by Congress. But . . . it has made no such distribution . . . [Consequentially, ] Congress, having the power to establish the courts, must define their [the inferior courts'] respective jurisdictions. http://www.justia.us/us/49/441/case.html#448
In
Sheldon, then, the Supreme Court ruled that:
- Congress may withhold from any court of its creation jurisdiction of any of the enumerated controversies. Courts created by statute can have no jurisdiction but such as the statute confers. No one of them can assert a just claim to jurisdiction exclusively conferred on another, or withheld from all . . . The Constitution has defined the limits of the judicial power of the United States, but has not prescribed how much of it shall be exercised by the Circuit Court; consequently, the statute which does prescribe the limits of their jurisdiction, cannot be in conflict with the Constitution, unless it confers powers not enumerated therein. http://www.justia.us/us/49/441/case.html#449