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''Chisholm v. Georgia'', 2 U.S. (2 Dall.) 419 (1793), is considered the first
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
case of significance and impact. Since the case was argued prior to the formal pronouncement of
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
by ''
Marbury v. Madison ''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that established the principle of judicial review, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes they find ...
'' (1803), there was little available legal precedent (particularly in U.S. law).. The Court in a 4–1 decision ruled in favor of Alexander Chisholm, executor of an estate of a citizen of
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
, holding that Article III, Section 2 grants federal courts jurisdiction in cases between a state and a citizen of another state wherein the state is the defendant. The case was superseded in 1795 by the
Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eleventh Amendment (Amendment XI) is an amendment to the United States Constitution which was passed by Congress on March 4, 1794, and ratified by the states on February 7, 1795. The Eleventh Amendment restricts the ability of individuals ...
which was considered binding by the Court in ''
Hollingsworth v. Virginia ''Hollingsworth v. Virginia'', 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 378 (1798), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court ruled early in America's history that the President of the United States has no formal role in the ...
'' (1798). The Supreme Court formally established
sovereign immunity Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine whereby a monarch, sovereign or State (polity), state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from lawsuit, civil suit or criminal law, criminal prosecution, strictly speaking in mode ...
in federal courts in '' Hans v. Louisiana'' (1890) and state courts in '' Alden v. Maine'' (1999) using the Eleventh Amendment, effectively overturning their decision.


Background of the case

On October 31, 1777, the Executive Council of Georgia authorized Thomas Stone and Edward Davies, as commissioners of the state, to purchase goods from Robert Farquhar, a South Carolina merchant, to help stationed
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
troops in Savannah who were in dire need of supplies. Stone and Davies agreed to give Farquhar $169,613.33 (in indigo or continental currency) for his merchandise. However, at the time of Farquhar's death in 1784, he had not received payment for his merchandise. The estate filed a claim for the debt with the Georgia legislature in 1789, but was met with a committee report refusing payment. Instead, the committee suggested the estate sue Stone and Davies, as they had withdrawn the funds meant for Farquhar from the state treasury.


Prior history

Alexander Chisholm, a merchant in Charleston and an executor to Farquhar's estate, brought suit against the state of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Georgia. The circuit court heard the case in October 1791 under the caption of ''Farquhar's Executor v. Georgia''. Chisholm sought £100,000 sterling in payment and damages. Georgia governor
Edward Telfair Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, politician and slave trader who served as the governor of Georgia from 1786 to 1787 and again from 1790 to 1793. He was a member of the Continental Congre ...
argued that Georgia was "a free, sovereign and independent State... ndcannot be drawn or compelled... to answer, against the will of the said State of Georgia, before any Justices of the federal Circuit Court for the District of Georgia or before any Justices of any Court of Law or Equity whatsoever", a stance of sovereign immunity.
Associate Justice An associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some ...
James Iredell James Iredell (October 5, 1751 – October 20, 1799) was one of the first justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed by President George Washington and served from 1790 until his death in 1799. His son, James Iredel ...
, who heard the case while riding circuit, along with U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, dismissed the case, citing a lack of jurisdiction under the
Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article Three of th ...
, on grounds that a state could not be sued by a citizen of another state in federal circuit court.


Supreme Court

Chisholm subsequently filed a new suit before the Supreme Court under its
original jurisdiction In common law legal systems, original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the S ...
, likely in the February 1792 term. The case, captioned as ''Chisholm, Executor v. Georgia'', sought damages amounting to $500,000. When no representative for Georgia appeared before the Court in the August 1792 term, plaintiff's counsels John Hallowell and
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Edmund Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the seventh Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to cre ...
consented to hold over the case until the February 1793 term. Despite additional provision of notice by the Court, no attorneys or representatives for the state appeared in the February 1793 term. The Court then proceeded to hear Randolph's arguments.


The court's decision

In a four-to-one decision, the Court held for the plaintiff, with Chief Justice
John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
and associate justices
William Cushing William Cushing (March 1, 1732 – September 13, 1810) was an American lawyer who was one of the original five associate justices of the United States Supreme Court; confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, he served until ...
, James Wilson, and John Blair constituting the majority; only Justice Iredell dissented. (At that time, there was no ''opinion of the court'' or ''majority opinion''; the justices delivered their opinions ''
seriatim ''Seriatim'' (Latin for "in series") in law indicates that a court is addressing multiple issues in a certain order, such as the order in which the issues were originally presented to the court. In actuarial science it refers to a model that looks ...
'' or individually, in ascending order of seniority.) The Court ruled that Article 3, Section 2, of the Constitution expressly extended federal judicial power to suits between a state and a citizen of another state, and placed that power within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Moreover, it held, the Constitution provided no exception which limited that authority only to suits where the state was the plaintiff.


Chief Justice John Jay's Opinion

In his opinion, Chief Justice
John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
begins by breaking down the argument made by the plaintiffs into four different questions: # ''Can the State of Georgia, being one of the United States of America, be made a party-defendant in any case, in the Supreme Court of the United States, at the suit of a private citizen, even although he himself is, and his testator was, a citizen of the State of South Carolina?'' # ''If the State of Georgia can be made a party defendant in certain cases, does an action of
assumpsit Assumpsit ("he has undertaken", from Latin, ''assumere''), or more fully, action in assumpsit, was a form of action at common law used to enforce what are now called obligations arising in tort and contract; and in some common law jurisdictions, u ...
lie against her?'' # '' Is the service of the summons upon the Governor and Attorney General of the State of Georgia, a competent service?'' # ''By what process ought the appearance of the State of Georgia to be enforced?'' In the opening words of his opinion, Justice Wilson stated the essential principle on which the case turned: "This is a case of uncommon magnitude. One of the parties to it is a State; certainly respectable, claiming to be sovereign. The question to be determined is, whether this State, so respectable, and whose claim soars so high, is amenable to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States? This question, important in itself, will depend on others, more important still; and, may, perhaps, be ultimately resolved into one, no less radical than this 'do the people of the United States form a Nation?'" Justice Iredell’s Dissent In his dissenting opinion, Justice Iredell stated, “A general question of great importance here occurs. What controversy of a civil nature can be maintained against a State by an individual? The framers of the Constitution, I presume, must have meant one of two things: either 1. in the conveyance of that part of the judicial power which did not relate to the execution of the other authorities of the general Government (which it must be admitted are full and discretionary, within the restrictions of the Constitution itself), to refer to antecedent laws for the construction of the general words they use; or, 2. to enable Congress in all such cases to pass all such laws as they might deem necessary and proper to carry the purposes of this Constitution into full effect, either absolutely at their discretion, or at least in cases where prior laws were deficient for such purposes, if any such deficiency existed.” Iredell stated that neither of these things was argued in the case, and reasoned that under
common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
each State was sovereign, just as under English law, and they could not be sued without their consent.


Subsequent developments

Although Justice Iredell's was the only dissenting opinion, his opinion ultimately became the law of the land. The States, surprised by the decision of the Supreme Court, called for the 11th Amendment to the Constitution, which precludes a State from being sued in Federal Court without that State's consent. By February 1795, 12 of the then 15 states had ratified the 11th Amendment; South Carolina ratified it in 1797, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania took no action on ratification. In 1795, the Eleventh Amendment was ratified to negate the holding in ''Chisholm v. Georgia''. Under the 11th Amendment, citizens of one state or of foreign countries can only sue a state with the state's consent or if Congress, pursuant to a valid exercise of Fourteenth Amendment remedial powers, abrogates the states' immunity from suit.


See also

*'' Hans v. Louisiana'', 134 U.S. 1 (1890) *'' Edelman v. Jordan'', 415 U.S. 651 (1974) *'' Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon'', 473 U.S. 234 (1985) *'' Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida'', 517 U.S. 44 (1996) *'' Alden v. Maine'', 527 U.S. 706 (1999) * List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 2


Notes


References

* Jean Edward Smith, ''John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation'', New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1996. * Jean Edward Smith, ''The Constitution And American Foreign Policy'', St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1989. * William Anderson LaBach, ''The Supreme Court Fails Its First Test: Chisholm v. Georgia'', Saarbrücken, Germany,
VDM Verlag Omniscriptum Publishing Group, formerly known as VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, is a German publishing group headquartered in Riga, Latvia. Founded in 2002 in Düsseldorf, its book production is based on print-to-order technology. The company pub ...
, 2009.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm V. Georgia United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Jay Court United States Constitution Article Three case law United States state sovereign immunity case law Legal history of Georgia (U.S. state) United States Supreme Court cases in 1793 Abrogated United States Supreme Court decisions