Today in Supreme Court History: November 20, 1910

11/20/1910: Justice William Henry Moody retired.

Justice William Henry Moody

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Osborne v. County of Adams, 106 U.S. 181 (decided November 20, 1882): a steam grist mill is not an “internal improvement” under state statute authorizing county to issue bonds for construction; statute deals only with railroads and related structures (not clear why there’s federal court jurisdiction here; the lower court seemed to say there wasn’t, yet decided the merits anyway, 7 F. 441)

O’Neil v. Northern Colorado Irrigation Co., 242 U.S. 20 (decided November 20, 1916): farmer objecting to a water utility plugging up his ditch in accordance with water priority decree in another district (where only district residents could be heard) was barred by four-year statute of limitations for contesting the decree, even though they didn’t come by to plug it up until 30 years later (seems unfair to me)

Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63 (decided November 20, 1972): a program to be used on a computer was not a patentable process because it was merely an abstract “principle”; the program here changed numbers from “binary coded” to “pure binary”, for example changing 53 from 5 then 3 (0101 0011) to 53 all in one bunch (110101)

[defaultdotxbe]

O’Neil v. Northern Colorado Irrigation Co

"The statute of limitations for the crime I committed last week has expired because I was born 40 years ago"

[F.D. Wolf]

The Osborne case was probably based on diversity jurisdiction. After the Panic of 1873, some 20% of municipal bonds in the country were in default. The municipalities that issued them simply did not have the funds to pay the bondholders, were eager to get out of their obligations, and the Court tended to be obliging. In the latter half of the 19th century, the Court heard some 200 of these cases.

The way a case would typically get to the Supreme Court is some out-of-state bondholder, who probably bought the bond on the secondary market, would sue for nonpayment in federal district court. The municipality would interpose various defenses, including ultra vires, claiming the bonds were invalid because it had exceeded its legal authority in issuing them, which is exactly what the Court held in this case.

[John F. Carr]

Under more modern law (municipal bankruptcy was authorized in 1934) could a trustee claw back payments on illegally issued municipal bonds?

[Krayt]

Not a fan of entities that can back their bonds with the legal power to tax declaring bankruptcy.

[John F. Carr]

If I understand correctly, user fees but not general taxes may be pledged as security. A creditor of a water district gets to collect water fees.

I heard that under Massachusetts law creditors could seize real property within a municipality to satisfy a judgment. I know of no cases where this actually happened.

[SRG2]

I suspect, without checking, that Gottschalk ended up being very "distinguished" as business process patents flourished.

[Magister]

I wonder if Gottschalk would have come out differently if the algorithm were implemented in a physical circuit. There seem to be plenty of software patents since then.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Thanks to everyone for enlightening and interesting comments.

[Mr. Bumble]

Good luck in court.

[Dan Schiavetta]

thanks

[F.D. Wolf]

William Henry Moody was the district attorney for Essex County, Massachusetts, from 1890 to 1895. He first came into the national spotlight when Gov. William E. Russell appointed him as a special prosecutor in the Lizzie Borden murder case in 1893. (Normally, the state attorney general handled all capital crimes, but he claimed he was too ill.) Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe, and the case was an absolute national media sensation that captivated the country (and does to this day). Though Borden was acquitted, Moody won plaudits for his conduct in the case. (The case really was the O.J. Simpson trial of its day. Borden was almost certainly guilty, but the jury of twelve men [women couldn't vote or sit on juries yet] just did not want to believe this society matron could slaughter her parents.)

Recognizing a rising star, state Republican officials convinced Moody to run for Congress, which he successfully did in 1894. It was at this time that he met the man who would shape the rest of his life, New York City Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who had come to Boston to speak at a Republican event. The two men seemed to agree on practically everything from the need to rebuild the Navy to the need to demolish business trusts and became fast friends. When Roosevelt became President, Moody would serve as his Navy Secretary, then as Attorney General, before Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1906.

Unfortunately, severe arthritis, which would strike Moody two years later, would cut his career (and his life) short. His last sitting on the Court was on May 7, 1909. By then he was so crippled, he couldn't even lift a book. He was hesitant to retire, as he did not qualify for a pension, but finally did so on November 20, 1910, after Congress had passed a special act allowing him to collect a full pension. He would die in 1917. I believe Moody, had he not been hit with the arthritis, would have been another Holmes.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Lizzie Borden took an axe
Gave her parents many whacks
Despite all that, she still walked free
Which somehow boosted the career of Moody

[F.D. Wolf]

Another similarity to the O.J. Simpson case, which boosted the careers of prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. I can think of a few famous surprise acquittals, but not another one that made the unsuccessful prosecutor a star (or even remember the prosecutor's name for that matter.)