FRED A. BAKER, Plff. in Err., v.
STEPHEN BALDWIN.
(See S. C. Reporter’s ed. 61-63.)
Error to state court — decision sustaining validity of Federal statute.
The judgment of a state court sustaining the validity of the act of Congress of February 28, 1878 (20 Stat. at L. 25, chap. 20), mak¬ ing the silver dollar of 412.5 grains troy of standard silver a full legal tender, cannot be reviewed in the Supreme Court of the United States, since that court has jurisdiction, under U. S. Rev. Stat. § 709, to review the judgment of a state court upon the validity of a Federal statute, only when against its validity.
[No. 4.]
Submitted October Dj, 1902. Decided No¬ vember 3, 1902.
T N ERROR to the Supreme Court of the X State of Michigan to review a judgment which affirmed a decree of the Circuit Court for Oakland County which granted the re¬ lief sought by a bill to compel the release of a mortgage. Dismissed.
See same case below, 121 Mich. 259, 80 N. W. 36.
The facts are stated in the opinion.
Messrs. Albert B. Hall and Fred A. Baker submitted the cause for plaintiff in error.
Mr. Timothy E. Tarsney submitted the cause for defendant in error.
Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:
This was a bill filed by Stephen Baldwin in the circuit court for the county of Oak¬ land, Michigan, against Fred A. Baker, to compel the release of a mortgage given to secure payment of a promissory note for $330, dated January 12, 1894, and payable in three years thereafter.
Baldwin had purchased the land subject
Note. — On xorits of error from United States Supreme Court to state courts — see notes to Hamblin v. Western Land Co. 37 L. ed. U. S. 267 ; ICipley v. Illinois ex rel. Akin, 42 L. ed. It S. 998 ; and Re Buchanan, 39 L. ed. U. S.
884.
75
62-64
Supreme Court of the United States.
Oct. Term,
to the mortgage, which had been assigned to Baker, and tendered the amount due thereon in silver dollars coined after 1878. This tender Baker declined to accept on the ground that the legal tender provisions of the act of Congress of February 28, 1878, entitled “An Act to Authorize the Coinage of the Standard Silver Dollar, and to Re¬ store its Legal Tender Character” (20 Stat. at L. 25, chap. 20), were unconstitutional, and refused to discharge the mortgage as demanded by Baldwin.
The circuit court for Oakland county en¬ tered a decree in accordance with the prayer of the bill, and Baker carried the cause by appeal to the supreme court of Michigan,, which affirmed the decree. Baldwin v. Baker, 121 Mich. 259, 80 N. W. 36. This writ of error was then allowed.
The supreme court of Michigan said: “The sole question presented is whether the act in question, making the silver dollar of 412.5 grains troy of standard silver a full legal tender for all debts and dues, public and private, is constitutional;” and held that it was. That decision is assigned for error, but it was not a decision against the validity of the statute, and, on the contrary, sustained its validity.