MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.
THIS action was brought in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of California by the Receivers of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation created under an act of Congress approved July 27, 1866,
The original defendant was J.R. McDonald, as Treasurer of the State of California. He was succeeded in office by Levi Rackliffe, W.S. Green and Truman Reeves in the order named.
The relief sought was a judgment against the defendant "as Treasurer of the State of California," for the sum of $2272.80 with interest thereon from the date of the payment of that sum or any portion thereof to the State Treasurer, together with the costs of the action.
Before bringing suit the Receivers of the Railroad Company gave written notice to the Comptroller of the State that they intended to bring an action against the State Treasurer to recover from him the amount of the "taxes paid by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, and by the Receiver for it, to the State Treasurer as and for taxes assessed against the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company in the State of California for the year 1893, by the State Board of Equalization."
The action was brought under section 3669 of the Political Code of California, which is as follows:
"Each corporation, person or association assessed by the State Board of Equalization must pay to the State Treasurer, upon the order of the Comptroller, as other moneys are required to be paid into the Treasury, the state and county and city and county taxes each year levied upon the property so assessed to it or him by said board. Any corporation, person or association dissatisfied with the assessment made by the board, upon the payment of the taxes due upon the assessment complained of, and the percentage added, if to be added, on or before the first Monday in June, and the filing of notice with the Comptroller of an intention to begin an action, may, not later than the first Monday in June, bring an action against the State Treasurer for the recovery of the amount of taxes and percentage so paid to the Treasurer, or any part thereof, and in the complaint may allege any fact tending to show the illegality of the tax, or of the assessment upon which the taxes are levied, in whole or in part. A copy of the complaint and of the summons
The State Treasurer, represented by the Attorney General of the State, demurred to the complaint upon various grounds affecting the merits of the case, and also moved to dismiss the case upon the ground that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction of the defendant or of the action.
The demurrer was sustained with leave to amend and the motion to dismiss was denied. Reinhart v. McDonald, Treas'r, 76 Fed. Rep. 403.
An amended complaint was filed but a demurrer to it was sustained, with leave to amend. No further amendment having been filed, the action was dismissed by the Circuit Court. Smith v. Rackliffe, 83 Fed. Rep. 983. That judgment was affirmed in the Circuit Court of Appeals. 59 U.S. App. 428.
Is this suit to be regarded as one against the State of California? The adjudged cases permit only one answer to this question. Although the State, as such, is not made a party defendant,
The case, in some material aspects, is like that of Louisiana v. Jumel, 107 U.S. 711, 726-728. That was a proceeding by mandamus against officers of Louisiana to compel them to use the public moneys in the state treasury for the retirement of certain bonds issued by the State but which it subsequently refused to recognize as valid obligations and directed its officers not to pay. This court said: "It may be, without doubt, easily ascertained from the accounts how much of the money on hand is applicable to the payment of this class of debts; but the law nowhere requires the setting apart of this fund any more than
We are clearly of opinion that within the meaning of the constitutional provisions relating to actions instituted by private persons against a State, this suit, though in form against an officer of the State, is against the State itself. In re Ayers, 123 U.S. 443; Pennoyer v. McConnaughy, 140 U.S. 1, 10.
But it is contended that by the section of the Political Code of California above quoted the State has consented that its Treasurer may be sued in respect of the matters specified in that section, and it is argued that this case comes within the decision in Beers v. Arkansas, 20 How. 527, 529, in which it was said to be an established principle of jurisprudence in all civilized nations that while the sovereign cannot be sued in its own courts or in any other without its consent and permission, a State "may, if it thinks proper, waive this privilege, and permit itself to be
It is quite true the State has consented that its Treasurer may be sued by any party who insists that taxes have been illegally exacted from him under assessments made by the State Board of Equalization. But we think that it has not consented to be sued except in one of its own courts. This is not expressly declared in the statute, but such, we think, is its meaning. The requirement that the aggrieved taxpayer shall give notice of his suit to the Comptroller, and the provision that the Treasurer may at the time he demurs or answers "demand that the action be tried in the Superior Court of the county of Sacramento," indicate that the State contemplated proceedings to be instituted and carried to a conclusion only in its own judicial tribunals. If a Circuit Court of the United States can take cognizance of an action of this character, the right given to the Treasurer by the local statute to have the case tried in the Superior Court of Sacramento County would be of no value; for, as the jurisdiction and authority of a Circuit Court of the United States depends upon the Constitution and laws of the United States, it could not refuse to take cognizance of the case if rightfully commenced in it and to proceed to final decree, nor could it, merely in obedience to the laws of the State, transfer it to a state court upon the demand of the State Treasurer. A Federal court can neither take nor surrender jurisdiction except pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States.
In Beers v. Arkansas, above cited, it was further said: "As this permission [to be sued] is altogether voluntary on the part of the sovereignty, it follows that it may prescribe the terms
In support of the broad proposition that the State could not restrict its consent to be sued to actions brought in its own courts, counsel refer to Railway Company v. Whitton, 13 Wall. 270, 286; Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., 154 U.S. 362, 391, and Smyth v. Ames, 169 U.S. 466, 516.
Railway Company v. Whitton related to a statute of Wisconsin, giving a right of action, in certain circumstances, where the death of a person was caused by the wrongful act, neglect
Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. was an action by a New York corporation against the railroad commissioners of Texas and others to enjoin the enforcement of certain railroad rates established by the statutes of Texas. This court said: "Nor can it be said in such a case that relief is obtainable only in the courts of the State. For it may be laid down as a general proposition that, whenever a citizen of a State can go into the courts of the State to defend his property against the illegal acts of its officers, a citizen of another State may invoke the jurisdiction of the Federal courts to maintain a like defence. A State cannot tie up a citizen of another State, having property rights within its territory invaded by unauthorized acts of its own officers, to suits for redress in its own courts. Given a case where a suit can be maintained in the courts of the State to protect property rights, a citizen of another State may invoke the jurisdiction of the Federal courts."
Smyth v. Ames was a suit in the Circuit Court of the United States against the members of the State Board of Transportation of Nebraska and other persons and corporations, to enjoin the enforcement of certain rates established by a statute of that State for railroads. In that case it was insisted that the relief sought could only be had in an action brought in the Supreme Court of Nebraska, such being the remedy provided by the statute there in question. That provision, it was contended, took from the Circuit Court of the United States its
These cases do not control the determination of the present question. The Whitton suit was wholly between private parties, and involved no question as to the State or the powers or acts of state officers. In the Reagan and Smyth cases the relief sought was against the proposed action of state officers or
In the present case the suit was one to compel an officer of the State, by affirmative action on his part, to perform or comply with the promise of the State as defined in its Political Code, and therefore, as we have said, it is a suit against the State. Nothing heretofore said by this court justifies the contention that a State may not give its consent to be sued in its own courts by private persons or by corporations, in respect of any cause of action against it and at the same time exclude the jurisdiction of the Federal courts — subject always to the condition, arising out of the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, that the final judgment of the highest court of the State in any action brought against it with its consent may be reviewed or reexamined, as prescribed by the act of Congress, if it denies to the plaintiff any right, title, privilege or immunity secured to him and specially claimed under the Constitution or laws of the United States.
In our judgment it was competent for the State to couple with its consent to be sued on account of taxes alleged to have been exacted under illegal assessments made by the state board, the condition that the suit be brought in one of its own courts. Such legislation ought to be deemed a part of the taxing system of the State, and cannot be regarded as hostile to the General Government, or as touching upon any right granted or secured by the Constitution of the United States. If the California statute be construed as referring only to suits brought in one of its own courts, it does not follow that injustice will be done to any taxpayer whose case presents a Federal question. For, if he be denied any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States and specially set up by him, the case can be brought here upon writ of error from the highest court of the State.
Again, it is contended that a State cannot claim exemption from suit by a corporation created by Congress — as was the
If the Constitution be so interpreted it would follow that any corporation created by Congress may sue a State in a Circuit Court of the United States upon any cause of action, whatever its nature, if the value of the matter in dispute is sufficient to give jurisdiction. We cannot approve this interpretation.
This question is controlled by the principles announced in Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10, 14, 16-21. That was an action brought in the Circuit Court of the United States by a citizen of Louisiana against that State. It was a case that could be said to have arisen under the Constitution of the United States; and the contention was that the Eleventh Amendment did not exclude from the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court a suit brought against a State by one of its own citizens, provided it was one arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States.
Referring to certain observations made by Hamilton, Madison and Marshall, in refutation of the doctrine that States were liable to suits, the court also said: "It seems to us that these views of those great advocates and defenders of the Constitution were most sensible and just; and they apply equally to the present case as to that then under discussion. The letter is appealed to now, as it was then, as a ground for sustaining a suit brought by an individual against a State. The reason against it is as strong in this case as it was in that. It is an attempt to strain the Constitution and the law to a construction never imagined or dreamed of. Can we suppose that, when the Eleventh Amendment was adopted, it was understood to be left open for citizens of a State to sue their own State in the Federal courts, whilst the idea of suits by citizens of other
Again: "The suability of a State without its consent was a thing unknown to the law. This has been so often laid down and acknowledged by courts and jurists that it is hardly necessary to be formally asserted. . . . `It may be accepted as a point of departure unquestioned,' said Mr. Justice Miller, in Cunningham v. Macon & Brunswick Railroad, 109 U.S. 446, 451, `that neither a State nor the United States can be sued as defendant in any court in this country without their consent, except in the limited class of cases in which a State may be made a party in the Supreme Court of the United States by virtue of the original jurisdiction conferred on this court by the Constitution.' Undoubtedly a State may be sued by its own consent, as was the case in Curran v. Arkansas et al., 15 How. 304, 309, and in Clark v. Barnard, 108 U.S. 436, 447. The suit in the former case was prosecuted by virtue of a state law which the legislature passed in conformity to the constitution of that State. But this court decided, in Beers et al. v. Arkansas, 20 How. 527, 529, that the State could repeal that law at any time; that it was not a contract within the terms of the Constitution prohibiting the passage of state laws impairing the obligation of a contract. . . . It is not necessary that we should enter upon an examination of the reasons or expediency of the rule which exempts a sovereign State from prosecution in a court of justice at the suit of individuals. This is fully discussed by writers on public law. It is enough for us to declare its existence."
The present plaintiffs, as did the plaintiffs in Hans v. Louisiana, base the argument in support of their right to sue the State in the Circuit Court of the United States upon the mere letter of the Constitution. We deem it unnecessary to repeat
The Circuit Court entertained jurisdiction of the cause and dismissed the bill. The Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Circuit Court erred in holding jurisdiction, but affirmed the order of dismissal upon the ground of want of jurisdiction in the latter court to take cognizance of such a case as is here presented. We approve the action of the Circuit Court of Appeals, and its judgment is
Affirmed.
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