doubt, that congress may create a succession of inferior tribunals, in each of which it may vest appellate, as well as original jurisdiction. This results from the very nature of the delegation of the judicial power in the constitution. It is delegated in the most general terms; and may, therefore, be exercised under the authority of congress, under every variety of form of original and appellate jurisdiction. There is nothing in the instrument, which restrains, or limits the power; and it must, consequently, subsist in the utmost latitude, of which it is in its nature susceptible.[1] The result then would be, that, if the appellate jurisdiction over cases, to which a state is a party, could not, according to the terms of the constitution, be exercised by the Supreme Court, it might be exercised exclusively by an inferior tribunal. The soundness of any reasoning, which would lead us to such a conclusion, may well be questioned.[2]
- ↑ Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. R. 337, 338; Osborn v. Bank of United States, 9 Wheat. R. 820, 821; Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. R. 392 to 396.
- ↑ The Federalist, No. 82, has spoken of the right of congress to vest appellate jurisdiction in the inferior courts of the United States from state courts, (for it had before expressly affirmed that of the Supreme Court in such cases) in the following terms. "But could an appeal be made to lie from the state courts to the subordinate federal judicatories? This is another of the questions, which have been raised, and of greater difficulty, than the former. The following considerations countenance the affirmative. The plan of the convention, in the first place, authorizes the national legislature 'to constitute tribunals, inferior to the Supreme Court.' It declares, in the next place, that 'the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts, as congress shall ordain and establish;' audit then proceeds to enumerate the cases, to which this judicial power shall extend. It afterwards divides the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court into original and appellate, but gives no definition of that of the subordinate courts. The only outlines described for them are, that they shall
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