Opinion of the Court. of those governments respectively. The record does not show anything respecting the citizenship of Murphy, the plaintiffs' assignor, and it does not appear, therefore, whether, in case the assignment had not been made, he could have brought suit upon the policies of insurance against the defendants in the Circuit Court of the United States. No question concerning the jurisdiction of that court was made by counsel, either on the trial or in this court; but, after having been argued here at the bar on the merits, the doubt upon the right of the court below to entertain jurisdiction arose so seriously as in our opinion to require argument upon the point. That has now been submitted and considered, the conclusion we have reached requiring an affirmance of the jurisdiction. The question is whether, under the second section of the act of March 3d, 1875, 18 Stat. 470, a suit of a civil nature, brought in a State court, where the matter in dispute exceeds the sum or value of $500, and in which there is a controversy between citizens of different States, or between citizens of a State and foreign States, citizens, or subjects, may be removed into the Circuit Court, which suit, because it is founded on a contract in favor of an assignee, could not have been brought in the Circuit Court if no assignment had been made, not being the case of a promissory note, negotiable by the law merchant, or of a bill of exchange. That section of the act is confined to the subject of removals of suits from the State to the Circuit Courts, and expressly provides that where there is a controversy between citizens of different States, or between citizens of a State and aliens, the suit in which it arises may be removed by either party; while the first section, providing that the Circuit Courts shall have original cognizance of the same character of cases, concurrent with the courts of the several States, nevertheless declares that they shall not "have cognizance of any suit founded on contract in favor of an assignee, unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such court to recover thereon if no assignment had been made, except in cases of promissory notes negotiable by the law merchant, and bills of exchange." Opinion of the Court. The exception out of the jurisdiction, as to suits begun in the Circuit Courts, contained in this clause, does not, by its terms, nor by the immediate context, apply to suits commenced in State courts and afterwards removed to the Circuit Courts; but it is argued that it must apply from the reason and necessity of the case. The ground of this argument is that no reason can be assigned for limiting the jurisdiction in suits first brought in the Circuit Courts, which does not apply equally to those removed into them from State courts; and that if the limitation is not applied to the latter the effect will be thereby to remove it from the former, by enabling parties, forbidden to commence their actions in the Circuit Court, to transfer them at will to that court, after first formally bringing them in a State court. Such, indeed, seems to be the result necessarily to be anticipated from this construction of the act, and the argument, ab inconvenienti, must be admitted to be cogent. An attempt to meet it is made by seeking to limit, by construction, the right of removal given by the second section to both parties, without qualification, to the defendant only in cases where, if exercised by the plaintiff, it would create jurisdiction in the Circuit Court in favor of an assignee whose assignor could not have sued in that court originally. This proposed construction is based upon the words of the clause in the first section of the act which forbids the Circuit Court to take cognizance of any suit founded on contract in favor of an assignee, which, it is argued, may be taken to mean that when the jurisdiction is invoked by the defendant, by a removal from the State court, it cannot be deemed to be exerted in favor of the assignee, but rather in favor of the adverse party. But this, we think, is a refinement upon the language of the clause not justified by its natural import, nor by admitted rules of interpretation. The words "in favor of an assignee" were evidently used, not to distinguish between the plaintiff and the defendant in the suit, but between the assignee and his assignor, so as not to give the favor to the former of bringing a suit. which was denied to the latter. The question, however, we think, is satisfactorily answered by recurring to the state of the law as it existed under the Ju Opinion of the Court. diciary Act of 1789, 1 Stat. 78, until the passage of the act of March 3d, 1875. The 11th section of the Judiciary Act corresponds to the 1st section of the act of 1875, describing in similar terms the character of the suits of which the Circuit Courts should have original cognizance, and containing a similar exception out of that jurisdiction of suits "to recover the contents of any promissory note or other chose in action in favor of an assignee, unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such court to recover the said contents, if no assignment had been made, except in cases of foreign bills of exchange." The 12th section of the act of 1789 corresponds to the second section of the act of 1875, limiting, however, the right to remove a suit begun in a State court to the defendant alone, where he is an alien, or a citizen of a State other than that where the suit has been brought, and of which the plaintiff is a citizen. It will be seen, therefore, on a comparison of the two statutes, that the chief differences between them are: 1. That the act of 1875 enlarges the original jurisdiction of Circuit Courts, based on the citizenship of the parties, to all cases of controversy between citizens of different States, and between citizens of a State and aliens, retaining substantially the same exception as to suits upon contracts brought by an assignee, when the assignee could not have sued in the Circuit Court, but not including negotiable paper; and, 2. That the act of 1875 gives to either party the right of removal from a State court to the Circuit Court, instead of confining it to the defendant. The exception out of the original jurisdiction, as to assignees of non-negotiable contracts, occupies in both statutes the same relative position, qualifying the provisions of the section in which it is contained, as to suits commenced in the Circuit Court, and not being found in, nor necessarily connected with, that regulating the removal of suits from the State courts. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the question was several times presented to this court for decision, whether the exceptions in the 11th section of the act applied to the right of re Opinion of the Court. moval given in the 12th section, and was uniformly answered in the negative. The very question arose directly in Green v. Custard, 23 How. 484. Mr. Justice Grier, delivering the opinion of the court, said: "If Green had been a citizen of Texas, and Custard had claimed a right as indorsee of a citizen of Texas to bring his suit in the courts of the United States, because he (Custard) was a citizen of another State, the case would have occurred which is included in the proviso to the 11th section of the act, which restrains the jurisdiction of the court. But the United States court had jurisdiction of this case by virtue of the 12th section. It is a right plainly conferred on Green, a citizen of Massachusetts, when sued by a citizen of Texas in a State court of Texas, no matter what the cause of action may be, provided it demand over five hundred dollars. The exception of the 11th section could have no possible application to the case." The same conclusion was reached in Bushnell v. Kennedy, 9 Wall. 387, in which, however, the prior decision in Green v. Custard does not appear to have been mentioned by counsel or court. This was the established law at the time of the passage of the act of March 2d, 1867, 14 Stat. 558, known as the Local Prejudice Removal Act, which for the first time conferred upon a plaintiff as well as the defendant the right to remove a suit brought by him in a State court, when the controversy was between a citizen of the State where the suit was brought and a citizen of another State, upon making and filing an affidavit that he had reason to and did believe that, from prejudice or local influence, he would not be able to obtain justice in such State court. The case of the City of Lexington v. Butler, 14 Wall. 282, was removed by the plaintiff in the action, under this act, from the State court to the Circuit Court. The question of jurisdiction was raised on the ground that the suit, which was founded on interest coupons attached to bonds issued by the city of Lexington and payable to bearer, could not have been brought in the Circuit Court on account of the restriction contained in the 11th section of the Judiciary Act. Opinion of the Court. It was decided, however, that the case was not within that exception-the holder of such an instrument not being an assignee within the meaning of the act. But the court went further, and, speaking through Mr. Justice Clifford, said: "Suppose, however, the rule is otherwise, still the objection must be overruled, as the suit was not originally commenced in the Circuit Court. Suits may properly be removed from a State court into the Circuit Court in cases where the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, if the suit had been originally commenced there, could not have been sustained, as the twelfth section of the Judiciary Act does not contain any such restriction as that contained in the eleventh section of the act defining the original jurisdiction. of the Circuit Courts. Since the decision in the case of Bushnell v. Kennedy, 9 Wall. 387, all doubt upon the subject is removed, as it is there expressly determined that the restriction incorporated in the eleventh section of the Judiciary Act has no application to cases removed into the Circuit Court from a State court, and it is quite clear that the same rule must be applied in the construction of the subsequent acts of Congress extending that privilege to other suitors not embraced in the twelfth section of the Judiciary Act." By this construction of the act of 1867 it was placed within the power of a plaintiff, on filing the requisite affidavit, to transfer from the State court to the Circuit Court a suit which he could not have commenced in it; the precise objection which is made to the construction now given to the second section of the act of 1875. It was in contemplation of these previous statutes, and of the judicial decisions construing them, that Congress passed the act of 1875, giving to plaintiffs as well as defendants unrestrained liberty to remove the cases specified in the second section from a State court to a Circuit Court, and we are bound to presume in full view and upon consideration of the very inconveniences which are now relied on as the ground for limiting the right of removal by force of the restrictive clauses in the first section of the act. In our opinion this is not admissible. We are bound to take |