Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/537

 TI (xm' JSTZCZ dimntln to be brought in any other district than that whereof the de- fendant is an inhabitant; and the effect is that 'where the iuris- diction is founded upon. any of the causes mentioned in this sction, except the citizenship of the parties, it must be brought in the district of which the defendant is an inhabitant; but where the iurisdiction is founded solely upon the fact that the parties are citizens of different States, the suit may be bought in the district in which either the plaintiff or the defendant resides.' McCo{ck Co. v. WoJ2hers, 134 U.S. 41, 43. And th general object of this act, a appears upon its face, and been often declared by this court, is to contract, not to enlarge, the iurisdiction of the Circuit Courts of the United States. ,Smith v. L/on, 133 U.S. 315, 320; l re Penns!/lvaia Co., 137 U.S. 451, 454; Fsk v. Henarie, 142 U.S. 459, 467. "As to natural persons, therefore, it cannot be doubted that the effect of this act, resl in the light of earlier acts upon the sme subject, and of the_ judicial construction thereof, is that the phrase 'district of the residence of' a person is equiv- alent to 'district whereof he is an inhabitant,' and cannot be construed as giving jurisdiction, by reason of citizenship, to a Circuit Court held in a State of which neither prty is a citisen, but, on the contrary, restrict the jurisdiction to the district in which one of the parties resides within the State of which he is a citizen; and that this act, therefore, having tken away the alternative, permitted in the earlier acts, of suing a person in the district 'in which he shall be found,' re- quires any suit, the jurisdiction of which is founded only on its being between citizens of different States, to be brought in the State of which one is a citizen, and in the district therein of which he is an inhabitant and resident." Treating the clause that "where the jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is between citi,.eus of different States, suit shall be brought only in the district of the residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant" as by way of proviso, tlmt proviso must be reg&rded as excluding from the enacting clause "some possible ground of misinterpret&tion of it, as

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