Wyoming ex rel. Wyoming Agricultural College v. Irvine

The plaintiff in error the state of Wyoming, on the relation of the Wyoming Agricultural College and its officers, filed a petition in the supreme court of that state for a writ of mandamus against the defendant in error, the state treasurer. The object of the proceeding was to compel the state treasurer to pay to the treasurer of the college certain funds in his hands, being the proceeds of land grants and the amount of appropriations made by Congress for the promotion of education in agricultural and mechanical arts. An alternative writ issued, and the respondent appeared and demurred to the petition. The cause was then heard by the supreme court of Wyoming, and by that court the demurrer, which was regarded by court and counsel as sufficiently raising the merits of the controversy, was sustained and judgment rendered for the respondent. The case comes here upon writ of error, with allegations of violations of Federal rights, which, so far as material to the decision, are stated in the opinion.

Messrs. Porter B. Coolidge, Fenimore Chatterton Samuel T. Corn, and A. E. L. Leckie for plaintiffs in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 279-280 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. Timothy F. Burke, W. E. Mullen, Nellis Corthell, Charles W. Burdick, and John W. Lacey for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 280-281 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice Moody delivered the opinion of the court: