Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/470

 444 OCTOBER TERM, 1907. Opiaion of th Cburt. 2 U. 8. nied, and Wisher applied to this court for a writ of mandamus, which was subsequently awarded. "In the present case the removal was granted and sus- tained on the ground that there was a controversy between the removing defendant and plaintiff, which could be fully determined as between them without the presence of the other defendants. That being so, the suit might have been brought originally in the Circuit Court against the railroad company as sole defendant. "If the ruling of the Circuit Court was erroneous, as is con- tended, but which we do not intimate, it may be reviewed after final decree on appeal or error. Missouri Pacific Rail- way Company v. Fitzgerald, 160 U.S. 556-582." If this case is one wherein there was a controversy wholly between citizens of different States, to the complete determi- nation of which other parties to the record were not indis- pensable or necessary, then the removal being properly sought on that ground, the Fedcral court had jurisdiction. If the State of Nebraska was not an indispensable party by reason of it, interest in the controvc.y, its presence on the record as a plaintiff would not dcfeat the jurisdiction of the Fcleral court. And to the Circuit Court was committed the decision of those questions in the first instance, the correctness of which cannot be examined upon this application. We must add that the more presence on the record of the State as a party plaintiff, will not defcat the jurisdiction of the Fcdcral court when it appears that the State has no real interest in the controversy. And in the present case the Cir- cuit Court was not bound to adjudicate the question merely by an inspection of the nominal parties to the record, for the mere presence of the State of Nebraska m a party plaintiff was not of itself sufficient nccessaqly to defeat the jurisdiction of the Federal court. It became, and wa.% thc duty of the Circuit Court to determine the question whether the State of Nebraska ws,an actual party plaintiff in the present suit. and to determine that question by consideration of the nature

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