Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Barrow Steamship Co. v. Kane

Barrow S.S. Co. v. Kane, 170 U.S. 100 (1898)

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1898-04-11
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • explaining that references to "aliens” in the Judiciary Act “include corporations”
  • “The jurisdiction so conferred upon the national courts USCA11 Case: 20-11080 Date Filed: 04/18/2022 Page: 9 of 18 20-11080 Opinion of the Court 9 cannot be abridged or impaired by any statute of a state.”

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Barrow Steamship Co. v. Kane. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Authority status
pending
Cited by
226 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Civil Procedure — Federal Jurisdiction over Foreign Corporations A foreign corporation that does business within a state through its regularly appointed agents and maintains property there is subject to the jurisdiction of a federal Circuit Court held within that state, where process is served upon those agents. 170 U.S. at 104–05
  2. Business & Corporate Law — Citizenship for Diversity Purposes For purposes of suing and being sued in the courts of the United States, a corporation created by and doing business in a state is considered a citizen of that state as much as a natural person, and there is a conclusive presumption of law that the persons composing the corporation are citizens of the same state as the corporation. 170 U.S. at 101–02
  3. Civil Procedure — Federal Jurisdiction over Foreign Corporations The jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts of the United States is created by and depends upon the Constitution and laws of the United States, not upon the statutes of the several states; a state statute limiting the suability of foreign corporations cannot abridge or impair the jurisdiction conferred upon the national courts. 170 U.S. at 109–11
  4. Civil Procedure — Service of Process Where a foreign corporation lawfully does business in a state and is summoned in an action there by service upon its principal officer or regularly appointed agent within the state, it is subject to the jurisdiction of the court in which the action is brought. 170 U.S. at 105–06
  5. Civil Procedure — Service of Process On the fundamental principle that no one shall be condemned unheard, service upon an officer or employee of a foreign corporation found within a state will not support jurisdiction where the corporation neither does business in that state nor has authorized any person to represent it there, even if such service is recognized as sufficient by the state's statutes or judicial decisions. 170 U.S. at 111
  6. Civil Procedure — Venue The statutory provisions governing the district in which suits must be brought do not apply to a suit against an alien or a foreign corporation; such a defendant may be sued by a citizen of a state in any district in which valid service can be made upon it. 170 U.S. at 111–12
  7. Civil Procedure — Federal Jurisdiction over Foreign Corporations A foreign corporation doing business in a state through its regularly appointed agents, and there served with process, is subject to suit in a federal Circuit Court held within that state for a cause of action arising in a foreign country, and the fact that the state legislature has not authorized like suits in its own courts by citizens and residents of other states cannot deprive such citizens of their right to invoke the jurisdiction of the national courts under the Constitution and laws of the United States. 170 U.S. at 112–13