Bond Administrator of Cade v. Brown/Opinion of the Court

The record in this case is voluminous; but a very brief statement will show the grounds upon which it is decided in this court.

The suit was brought by the defendant in error in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Louisiana, upon a bond with a collateral condition. The breaches for which he sued are set out in the petition. The plaintiff in error answered, denying some of the material facts stated in the petition, and alleging other facts, which, if supported by testimony, were sufficient to bar the recovery.

Upon these issues the parties proceeded in the case, and evidence on both sides was offered, which is stated at large in the record. And, as neither party demanded a jury, the fact as well as the law was, according to the Louisiana practice, submitted to the court.

The plaintiff in error has not presented any argument in this court, nor assigned any particular error of which he complains. None of the testimony on either side appears to have been objected to in the Circuit Court. Nor does it appear, from the pleadings, or by exception, or by the opinion of the court, that any question of law arose or was decided in the case. On the contrary, the opinion of the court, inserted in the record, according to the Louisiana practice, states that, being satisfied that the defendant in error had fully substantiated the allegations in his petition, the court proceeded to give judgment in his favor. The language of the opinion, when taken in connection with the pleadings and issues, implies that the case turned upon the comparative weight of the testimony; upon the fact, and not upon the law. And, whether the fact was rightly decided or not, according to the evidence, is not open to inquiry in this court. The decision of the court below, in this respect, is as conclusive as the verdict of a jury when the case is brought here by writ of error. And, as no error in law appears in the record, the judgment of the Circuit Court must be affirmed.

This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and was argued by counsel. On consideration whereof, it is now here ordered and adjudged by this court, that the judgment of the said Circuit Court in this cause be, and the same is hereby, affirmed, with costs and damages, at the rate of six per centum per annum.