Bailiff v. Tipping

Infobox SCOTUS case
Litigants=Bailiff v. Tipping
ArgueDate=
ArgueYear=
DecideDate=February 25
DecideYear=1805
FullName=Bailiff v. Tipping
USVol=6
USPage=406
Citation=2 L. Ed. 320; 1805 U.S. LEXIS 284; 2 Cranch 406
Prior=
Subsequent=
Holding=A writ of error must have a citation.
SCOTUS=1804-1806
Majority="no opinion issued"
LawsApplied=

"Bailiff v. Tipping", 6 U.S. 406 (1805) was an 1805 decision of the United States Supreme Court which held that a citation must accompany a writ of error in order for the court to hear the case.

Background

In the older common law procedure, a "writ of error" was a writ issued by an appellate court directing a lower court to deliver the record in the case for review. It was the most common form of remedial process available to the losing party after the final determination of the case on its merits. ["Black's Law Dictionary" (8th ed., 2004).] Similarly in the older common law context, a "citation" was a court-issued writ commanding a person to appear at a certain time and place in order to do something demanded in the writ, or to show cause for not doing something demanded. ["Black's Law Dictionary" (8th ed., 2004).]

Issues

# Whether the courts of the United States have jurisdiction to hear a case in which one alien sues another alien.

Procedural history

# Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky held that the courts did not have jurisdiction in a case where the parties were both aliens.
# Writ of error to the Supreme Court.

Holding

Where the writ of error lacks a citation, the writ of error must be dismissed. But see "Mason v. Ship Blaireau" (6 U.S. 240, 2 Cranch 240) for a case deciding the question of whether the courts of the United States may hear a case in which the parties are both aliens.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 6

References