145 U.S.

444
12 S.Ct. 935
36 L.Ed. 768

Ex parte SHAW.
May 16, 1892.

STATEMENT BY MR. JUSTICE GRAY.

This was a petition for a writ of mandamus to the judges of the circuit
court of the United States for the southern district of New York to
command them to take jurisdiction against the Quincy Mining Company
upon a bill in equity filed in that court on September 3, 1891, by the
petitioner, described in the bill as a citizen of Massachusetts, in behalf of
himself and other stockholders of the Quincy Mining Company, against
'the Quincy Mining Company, a corporation duly organized under the
laws of the state of Michigan, and having a usual place of business in the
city, county, and state of New York,' and against certain individuals
described in the bill as citizens of the state of New York. Upon that bill a
subpoena was issued, directed to the Quincy Mining Company, and, as
appeared by the marshal's return thereon, was served upon it within the
southern district of New York by exhibiting to its secretary the original
subpoena and leaving with him a copy. The Quincy Mining Company
appeared specially, and moved for an order to set aside the service.
At the hearing of the motion it appeared that the Quincy Mining Company
was a corporation organized for the purpose of mining in the county of
Houghton in the upper peninsula of the state of Michigan, under the
statute of Michigan of May 11, 1877, c. 113, by section 30 of which 'it
shall be lawful for any company associating under this act to provide in
the articles of association for having the business office of such company
out of this state, and to hold any meeting of the stockholders of board of
directors of such company at such office so provided for, but every such
company having its business office out of this state shall have an office for
the transaction of business within this state, to be also designated in such
articles of association;' and that this company, in its articles of association,
did provide as follows: 'The business office of the company here by
constituted and formed shall be in the city, county, and state of New York,
and another business office is hereby established at the Quincy mine, in
the county of Houghton and state of Michigan.'

The order to set aside the service was granted by the court, upon the
ground (as stated in its return to the rule to show cause why the writ of
mandamus should not issue) 'that said Quincy Mining Company is a
corporation created and existing under the law of the state of Michigan,
and is an inhabitant of the western district of Michigan, and not an
inhabitant of the southern district of New York.'
Michael H. Cardozo, for petitioner.
Don M. Dickinson and Alfred Russell, for respondent.
John F. Dillon and J. Hubley Ashton filed a brief in behalf of interested
parties on side of respondent, by leave.
Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion
of the court.

The single question in this case is whether under the act of March 3, 1887, c.
373, 1, as corrected by the act of August 13, 1888, c. 866, (the material parts
of which are copied in the margin,1 ) a corporation incorporated in one state of
the Union, and having a usual place of business in aother state in which it has
not been incorporated, may be sued, in a circuity court of the United States held
in the latter state, by a citizen of a different state.

This question, upon which there has been a diversity of opinion in the circuity
courts, can be best determined by a review of the acts of congress, and of the
decisions of this court, regarding the original jurisdiction of the circuit courts of
the United States over suits between citizens of different states.

In carrying out the provision of the constitution which declares that the judicial
power of the United States shall extend to controversies 'between citizens of
different states,' congress, by the judiciary act of September 24, 1789, c. 20,
11, conferred jurisdiction on the circuit court of suits of a civil nature, at
common law or in equity, 'between a citizen of the state where the suit is
brought and a citizen of another state,' and provided that 'no civil suit shall be
brought' 'against an inhabitant of the United States,' 'in any other district than
that whereof he is an inhabitant, or in which he shall be found at the time of
serving the writ.' 1 St. pp. 78, 79.

The word 'inhabitant,' in that act, was apparently used, not in any larger
meaning than 'citizen,' but to avoid the incongruity of speaking of a citizen of

anything less than a state, when the intention was to cover not only a district
which included a whole state, but also two districts in one state, like the
districts of Maine and Massachusetts in the state of Massachusetts, and the
districts of Virginia and Kentucky in the state of Virginia, established by
section 2 of the same act. 1 St. p. 73. It was held by this court from the
beginning that an averment that a party resided within the state or the district in
which the suit was brought was not sufficient to support the jurisdiction,
because in the common use of words a resident might not be a citizen, and
therefore it was not stated expressly and beyond ambiguity that he was a citizen
of the state, which was the fact on which the jurisdiction depended under the
provisions of the constitution and of the judiciary act. Bingham v. Cabbot, 3
Dall. 382; Turner v. Bank, 4 Dall. 8; Abercrombie v. Dupuis, 1 Cranch, 343;
Hodgson v. Bowerbank, 5 Cranch, 303; Brown v. Keene, 8 Pet. 112, 115. The
same rule has been maintaine to the present day, and has been held to be
unaffected by the fourteenth amendment of the constitution, declaring that 'all
persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.'
Robertson v. Cease, 97 U. S. 646; Grace v. American Ins. Co., 109 U. S. 278, 3
Sup. Ct. Rep. 207; Timmons v. Land Co., 139 U. S. 378, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 585;
Denny v. Pironi, 141 U. S. 121, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 966.
5

By the act of May 4, 1858, c. 27, 1, it was enacted that, in a state containing
more than one district, actions not local should 'be brought in the district in
which the defendant resides,' or, 'if there be two or more defendants residing in
different districts in the same state,' then in either district. 11 St. p. 272. The
whole purport and effect of that act was not to enlarge, but to restrict and
distribute, jurisdiction. It applied only to a state containing two or more
districts, and directed suits against citizens of such a state to be brought in that
district thereof in which they or either of them resided. It did not subject
defendants to any new liability to be sued out of the state of which they were
citizens, but simply prescribed in which district of that state they might be sued.

These provisions of the acts of 1789 and 1858 were substantially re-enacted in
sections 739 and 740 of the Revised Statutes.

The act of March 3, 1875, c. 137, 1, after giving the circuit courts jurisdiction
of suits 'in which there shall be a controversy between citizens of different
states,' and enlarging their jurisdiction in other respects, substantially re-enacted
the corresponding provision of the act of 1789, by providing that no civil suit
should be brought 'against any person' 'in any other district than that whereof he
is an inhabitant, or in which he shall be found' at the time of service, with
certain exceptions, not affecting the matter now under consideration. 18 St. p.

470.
8

The act of 1887, both in its original form and as corrected in 1888, re-enacts the
rule that no civil suit shall be brought against any person in any other district
than that whereof he is an inhabitant, but omits the clause allowing a defendant
to be sued in the district where he is found, and adds this clause: 'But where the
jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is between citizens of
different states, suit shall be brought only in the district of thed residence of
either the plaintiff or the defendant.' 24 St. p. 552; 25 St. p. 434. As has been
adjudged by this court, the last clause is by way of proviso to the next
preceding clause, which forbids any suit to be brought in any other district than
that whereof the defendant is an inhabitant; and the effect is that, 'where the
jurisdiction is founded upon any of the causes mentioned in this section, except
the citizenship of the parties, it must be brought in the district of which the
defendant is an inhabitant; but where the jurisdiction is founded solely upon the
fact that the parties are citizens of different states, the suit may be brought in
the district in which either the plaintiff or the defendant resides.' McCormick
Co. v. Walthers, 134 U. S. 41, 43, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 485. And the general object
of this act, as appears upon its face, and as has been often declared by this
court, is to contract, not to enlarge, the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of the
United States. Smith v. Lyon, 133 U. S. 315, 320, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 303; In re
Pennsylvania Co., 137 U. S. 451, 454, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 141; Fisk v. Henarie,
142 U. S. 459, 467, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 207.

As to natural persons, therefore, it cannot be doubted that the effect of this act,
read in the light of earlier acts upon the same subject and of the judicial
construction thereof, is that the phrase 'district of the residence of' a person is
equivalent 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 party is a citizen, but, on the contrary, restricts 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 taken away the alternative, permitted
in the earlier acts, of suing a person in the district 'in which he shall be found,'
requires 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.

10

In the case of a corporation, the reasons are, to say the least, quite as strong for
holding that it can sue and be sued only in the state and district in which it has
been incorporated, or in the state of which the other party is a citizen.

11

In Bank v. Earle, 13 Pet. 519, 588, Chief Justice TANEY said: 'It is very true

11

that a corporation can have no legal existence out of the boundaries of the
sovereignty by which it is created. It exists only in contemplation of law, and by
force of the law; and where that law ceases to operate, and is no longer
obligatory, the corporation can have no existence. It must dwell in the place of
its creation, and cannot migrate to another sovereignty. But, although it must
live and have its being in that state only, yet it does not by any means follow
that its existence there will not be recognized in other places; and its residence
in one state creates no insuperable objection to its power of contracting in
another.'

12

This statement has been often reaffirmed by this court, with some change of
phrase, but always retaining the idea that the legal existence, the home, the
domicile, the habitat, the residence, the citizenship of the corporation can only
be in the state by which it was created, although it may do business in other
states whose laws permit it.

13

In Insurance Co. v. French, 18 How. 404, in which an Indiana corporation was

sued in Indiana upon a judgment recovered in an action against it in a state court
of Ohio upon a contract made in that state, this court, speaking by Mr. Justice
CURTIS, and referring to Bank v. Earle, said: 'This corporation, existing only
by virtue of a law of Indiana, cannot be deemed to pass personally beyond the
limits of that state;' and held that it was bound by the judgment, because it had
been allowed by the state of Ohio to make contracts in that state only upon the
reasonable and lawful condition of its agent, residing and making contracts
there, being deemed its agent to receive service of process in suits upon such
contracts; and therefore that such a judgment, recovered after such a notice, was
'as valid as if the corporation had had its habitat within the state.' 18 How. 407,
408.

14

'A corporation,' said Chief Justice WAITE, 'created by and organized under the
laws of a particular state, and having its principal office there, is, under the
constitution and laws, for the purpose of suing and being sued, a citizen of that
state.' 'By doing business a way from their legal residence they do not change
their citizenship, but simply extend the field of their operations. They reside at
home, but do business abroad.' Railroad Co. v. Koontz, 104 U. S. 5, 11, 12.
See, also, Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wall. 168, 181; Railroad Co. v. Harris, 12 Wall.
65, 81; St. Clair v. Cox, 106 U. S. 350, 354, 356, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 354; Railway
Co. v. Gebhard, 109 U. S. 527, 537, 3 Sup. Ct. Rep. 363.

15

The same doctrine has been constantly maintained by this court in applying to
corporations the judiciary acts conferring on the circuit courts of the United
States jurisdiction of suits between citizens of different state.

16

Those acts have never named corporations; and for half a century after the
passage of the first act corporations were allowed to sue and be sued in the
circuit courts only when all the members of the corporation were, and were
alleged to be, citizens of the state which created the corporation. Bank v.
Deveaux, 5 Cranch, 61; Insurance Co. v. Boardman, Id. 57; Sullivan v.
Steamboat Co., 6 Wheat. 450; Breithaupt v. Bank, 1 Pet. 238; Bank v.
Slocomb, 14 Pet. 60.

17

But in Railroad Co. v. Letson, in 1844, it was adjudged, upon great

consideration, that it is sufficient to sustain the jurisdiction that the corporation
is created by a different state from that of which the opposite party is a citizen;
and Mr. Justice WAYNE stated that the court rested its judgment upon the
ground 'that a corporation created by and doing business in a particular state is
to be deemed to all intenst and purposes as a person, although an artificial
person, an inhabitant of the same state, for the purposes of its incorporation,
capable of being treated as a citizen of that state, as much as a natural person,'
and 'is substantially, within the meaning of the law, a citizen of the state which
created it, and where its business is done, for all the purposes of suing and
being sued.' 2 How. 497, 558. And it has ever since been treated as settled that
for these purposes the members of a corporate body must be conclusively
presumed to be citizens of the state in which the corporation is domiciled.
Marshall v. Railroad Co., 16 How. 314, 328; Drawbridge Co. v. Shepherd, 20
How. 227, 233; Railroad Co. v. Wheeler, 1 Black, 286, 296; Muller v. Dows,
94 U. S. 444; Steamship Co. v. Tugman, 106 U. S. 118, 121, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep.
58; Railroad Co. v. Alabama, 107 U. S. 581, 585, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 432.

18

In Insurance Co. v. Francis it was held that the act of March 2, 1867, c. 196,
(14 St. p. 558; Rev. St. 639, cl. 3,) authorizing the removal into the courts of
the United States of suits 'between a citizen of the state in which the suit is
brought and a citizen of another state,' did not warrant the removal of an action
brought in a court of the state of Mississippi, in which the plaintiff, a citizen of
Illinois, alleged that the defendant was a corporation created by the laws of
New York, located and doing business in Mississippi under its laws; and Mr.
Justice DAVIS, in delivering judgment, said: 'This, in legal effect, is an
averment that the defendant was a citizen of New York, because a corporation
can have no legal existence outside of the sovereignty by which it was created.
Its place of residence is there, and can be now here else. Unlike a natural
person, it cannot change its domicile at will, and, although it may be permitted
to transact business where its charter does not operate, it cannot on that account
acquire a residence there.' 11 Wall. 210, 216.

19

In Ex parte Schollenberger, 96 U. S. 369, 377, Chief Justice WAITE said: 'A

corporation cannot change its residence of its citizenship. It can have its legal
home only at the place where it is located by or under the authority of its
charter; but it may by its agents transact business anywhere, unless prohibited
by its charter, or excluded by local laws.' The jurisdiction of the circuit court in
that case, as well as in Insurance Co. v. Woodworth, 111 U. S. 138, 146, 4 Sup.
Ct. Rep. 364, was maintained upon the ground that the defendant corporation,
though incorporated in another state, yet, by reason of doing business in the
state in which the suit was brought, and having appointed an agent there as
required by its laws, upon whom process against the company might be served,
was found in that state, within the meaning of the act of March 3, 1875, c. 137,
1, then in force, and hereinbefore cited.
20

The statute now in question, as already observed, has repealed the permission to
sue a defendant in a district in which he is found, and has peremptorily enacted
that, 'where the jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is
between citizens of different states, suit shall be brought only in the district of
the residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant.' In a case between natural
persons, as has been seen, this clause does not allow the suit to be brought in a
state of which neither is a citizen. If congress, in framing this clause, did not
have corporations in mind, there is no reason for giving the clause a looser and
broader construction as to artificial persons who were not contemplated than as
to natural persons who were. If, as it is more reasonable to suppose, congress
did have corporations in mind, it must be presumed also to have had in mind the
law, as long and uniformly declared by this court, that, within the meaning of
the previous acts of congress giving jurisdiction of suits between citizens of
different states, a corporation could not be considered a citizen or a resident of
a state in which it had not been incorporated.

21

The Quincy Mining Company, a corporation of Michigan, having appeared

specially for the purpose of taking the objection that it could not be sued in the
southern district of New York by a citizen of another state, there can be no
question of waiver, such as has been recognized where a defendant has
appeared generally in a suit between citizens of different states, brought in the
wrong district. Gracie v. Palmer, 8 Wheat. 699: Railway Co. v. McBride, 141
U. S. 127, 131, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 982, and cases cited.

22

This case does not present the question what may be the rule in suits against an
alien or a foreign corporation, which may be governed by different
considerations. Nor does it affect cases in admiralty, for those have been
adjudged not to be within the scope of the statute. In re Louisville Underwriters,
134 U. S. 488, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 587.

23

All that is now decided is that under the existing act of congress a corporation,
incorporated in one state only, cannot be compelled to answer, in a circuit court
of the United States held in another state in which it has a usual place of
business, to a civil suit, at law or in equity, brought by a citizen of a different
state.

24

Writ of mandamus denied.

25

Mr. Justice HARLAN dissented.

'The circuit courts of the United States shall have original cognizance,
concurrent with the courts of the several states, of all suits of a civil nature, at
common law or in equity, where the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of
interest and costs, the sum or value of two thousand dollars, and arising under
the constitution or laws of the United States, or treaties made, or which shall be
made, under their authority, or in which controversy the United States are
plaintiffs or petitioners, or in which there shall be a controversy between
citizens of different states, in which the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of
interest and costs, the sum or value aforesaid, or a controversy between citizens
of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, or a
controversy between citizens of a state and foreign states, citizens or subjects,
in which the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum
or value aforesaid.' 'But no person shall be arrested in one district for trial in
another in any civil action before a circuit or district court; and no civil suit
shall be brought before either of said courts against any person by any original
process or proceeding in any other district than that whereof he is an inhabitant;
but where the jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is between
citizens of different states, suit shall be brought only in the district of the
residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant.' 25 St. p. 434.