REMOVAL OF CAUSES. Under what are known as the removal acts, provision is made by federal statutes for the removal of caus es in the state courts to the federal courts in certain cases.
The legislation on the subject begins with the Judiciary Act of 1789, which provided for the removal of suits commenced in the state courts against aliens, or citizens of other states, where the matter in dispute exceeded $500 ; 1 Stat. 73. This act contin ued in force, being substantially included in the Revised Statutes (section 639, now re pealed by the Judicial Code), until 1875, when the jurisdiction was greatly enlarged ; 18 Stat. 470; Girardey v. Moore, 3 Woods, 397, Fed. Cas. No. 5,462. The same section also provided for the removal of suits be tween citizens of one state claiming lands under grants of different states ; 1 Stat. 73 ; and this act was also substantially included in the Revised Statutes (section 647, also repealed), and also in the act of 1887, with changes as to the jurisdictional limit, the party who might petition for removal, and the state from which the grant must be de rived.
The act of 1833, occasioned by the nulli fication laws in South Carolina, provided for the removal of proceedings against federal revenue officers ; 4 Stat. 633. This act was included in the Revised Statutes (section 643, also repealed by the Judicial Code), which with some extension of its scope, was, until the enactment of that Code, still in force, not having been repealed expressly or by im plication by the act of 1875 ; Venable v. Richards, 105 U. S. 636, 26 L. Ed. 1196; and being excepted from repeal by the act of 1887 ; 25 Stat. 433. The act of 1863 related in terms to certain cases arising out of the civil war and has no subsequent force or effect. Several acts were passed during the reconstruction period, which were consolidat ed in R. S. §§ 641, 642 (both repealed by the Judicial Code and replaced by section 31), relating to the removal of causes in which there was a denial of civil rights, either by the action or non-action of the judicial tri bunals of the state. This act was expressly saved from repeal by the act of 1887. The act of 1866 related to procedure merely, and authorized the removal of a separable part of a cause by one non-resident defendant joined with a resident ; 14 Stat. 306. This
was substantially covered by R. S. § 639 (re pealed by the Judicial Code), but was re pealed by the act of 1875 and not revived by that of 1887. The act of 1876 (14 Stat. 558), subsequently included in R. S. § 639, author ized the removal of causes upon an affidavit of prejudice or local influence. This was not repealed by the act of 1875 (Hess v. Reyn olds, 113 U. S. 73, 5 Sup. Ct. 377, 28 L. Ed. 927), but was repealed and supplied by that of 1887 ; Fisk v. Henarie, 142 (U. S.) 459, 12 Sup. Ct. 207, 35 L. Ed. 1080. See infra. The act of 1868 authorized the removal of suits against federal corporations other than banks ; 15 Stat. 227; R. S. § 640 (repealed by the Code) ; but this was repealed by the act of 1887. The act of 1868 authorized the removal of personal actions brought by an alien against civil , officers of the United States; 17 Stat. 44; R. S. § 644 (repealed by the Code). Subject to the change in the jurisdictional amount, this act was express ly, and probably not impliedly, repealed by the act of 1887.
The general act of 1875 was one largely extending the federal jurisdiction and the right of removal: 18 Stat. L. 470 ; and the result bf it was such an overcrowding of the dockets of the federal courts as to induce the passage of the very restrictive act of 1887, which is now in force, as part of the Judicial Code. It was generally considered to have been framed for the purpose of re organizing the circuit courts of the United States and its operation was practically to repeal prior legislation on the subject, ex cept some special acts of limited scope, and to substitute this act for pre-existing legisla tion as to the federal law on the subject of the removal of causes. The act of 1887 was supplemented by the act of August 13, 1888 ; 25 Stat. 433, which was passed for the pur pose of correcting errors and ambiguities in the act of 1887. As thus amended, the act gave to the circuit courts original concurrent jurisdiction of all civil suits where the mat ter in dispute exceeded, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of $2,000 (now enlarged to $3,000). In certain classes of cases there is a right to remove independent ly of amount ; such as criminal cases and those civil actions touching matters not capa ble of a reduction to a pecuniary basis.