Military Justice and Appellate Jurisdiction
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EsLebeDeutschlandMilitary Justice and Appellate Jurisdiction
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EsLebeDeutschlandESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .
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Gen . Ansell's brief purports to find one such statute, which he describes a s
analogous with section 1199, Revised Statutes, granting the power to modif y
or reverse by the use of the single word revise . Gen . Ansell says, in part :
" I find the word used in another Federal statute in quite an analogou s
way. Section 24 of the act of July 1, 1898, chapter 541, 30 Statutes at Large ,
553 (bankruptcy law), provides in part as follows :
"' The several circuit courts of appeal shall have jurisdiction in equity ,
either interlocutory or final, to superintend and revise in matters of law th e
proceedings of the several inferior courts of bankruptcy within that jurisdic-
tion .' "
Gen . Ansell's brief then proceeds to cite a case interpreting the bankruptc y
statute (In re Cole, 163, Fed ., 180, 181, C . C. A., 1st Circuit), which he de=
scribes as " a case typical of all," in which the court says :
" On a petition to revise like that before us we are not restricted as we -
would be on a writ of error, our outlook is much broadened, and we are author-
ized to search the opinions filed in the district court, although not a par t
of the record in the strict sense of the word, for the purpose of ascertainin g
at large what were in fact the issues which that court considered . "
And from this quotation it is inferred that the court was finding in the word .
" revise " a broader power to " modify or reverse " the procedure of the lowe r
court . This legislative precedent, as judicially applied, would, if it were properl y
and accurately set forth in the brief, he most persuasive, and for this reason I
have had recourse to the statute itself . I find that the quotation of the bank-
ruptcy act of July 1, 1898, in the brief is incomplete, being a quotation of only a
portion of the section conferring appellate jurisdiction on the Supreme Cour t
and the circuit courts of appeal and the supreme courts of the Territories . Th e
portion quoted is from the latter part of the section, the earlier part of the sectio n
having conferred general appellate jurisdiction ; the words quoted by Gen. An-
sell, " shall have jurisdiction in equity, either interlocutory or final, to superin-
tend and revise in matters of law," follow that part of the section which confer s
general appellate jurisdiction . In order that you may be fully advised in th e
premises, I quote the entire section :
" SEc . 24 . Jurisdiction of appellate courts.(a) The Supreme Court of the
United States, the Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States, and the suprem e
courts of the Territories, in vacation in chambers and during their respectiv e
terms, as now or as they may be hereafter held, are hereby invested with appel-
late jurisdiction of controversies arising in bankruptcy proceedings from th e
courts of bankruptcy from which they have appellate jurisdiction in other cases .
The Supreme Court of the United States shall exercise a like jurisdiction fro m
courts of bankruptcy not within any organized circuit of the United States an d
from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia .
"(b) The several circuit courts of appeal shall have jurisdiction in equity ,
either interlocutory or final, to superintend and revise in matter of law the pro-
ceedings of the several courts of bankruptcy within their jurisdiction . Such
power shall be exercised on due notice and petition by any party aggrieved . "
The concluding paragraph, marked "(b)," quoted by Gen . Ansell, follows th e
underscored language which invests the courts with appellate jurisdiction in ex -
press terms. There was no necessity for the court to deduce appellate power ou t
of that part of the section designated above "(b)," for it had this appellate powe r
by express grant . The discussion of the court in in re Cole should, I think, be so
understood .
I do not think this part of the reply would be complete without some referenc e
to the manner in which appellate jurisdiction has generally been conferred b y
statute, exemplified in the following :
(a) The act of February 9, 1893, establishing the court of appeals for the Dis-
trict of Columbia provides :
" SEC . 7. That any party aggrieved by any final order, judgment, or decree o f
the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia * * * may appeal therefro m
to the court of appeals * * * and * * * the court of appeals shall re -
view such order, judgment, or decree, and affirm, reverse, or modify the same a s
shall be just . "
(b) The judicial code of March 3 . 1911, provides for the exercise of appellat e
jurisdiction in the following sections :
" Src . 128 . The circuit court of appeals shall exercise appellate jurisdiction t o
review by appeal or writ of error decision in the District courts, " etc .
13226519PT 71.0