Allen v. Riley

Frances J. Riley, the defendant in error, who was plaintiff below, recovered a judgment against plaintiffs in error, defendants below, for $1,250, in the district court of Brown county, in the state of Kansas, which judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state, and the defendants below have brought the case here by writ of error.

The suit was commenced by the filing of a petition by defendant in error, plaintiff below, in a district court of Kansas, March 17, 1902, to recover the value of certain lands alleged to have been transferred by the plaintiff to the defendant Erasmus W. Allen, in part payment for the transfer to plaintiff of rights for the state of Kentucky under a patent dated January 30, 1901, for a washing machine. The right to recover is based upon the failure of the defendants to comply with the Kansas statute, which failure defendants do not deny, but they insist that the statute is void as being in violation of the Constitution of the United States and the act of Congress referred to in the opinion. The Kansas statute is chapter 182 of the Laws of 1889. A copy of the act is set out in the margin.

Messrs. N. H. Loomis, R. W. Blair, and H. A. Scandrett for plaintiffs in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 348-350 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. A. E. Crane and T. T. Woodburn for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court: