Bailiff v. Tipping, 6 U.S. 406 (1805) was an 1805 decision of the United States Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 which held that a citation

Citation

Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...

 must accompany a writ of error in order for the court to hear the case.

Background

In the older common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 procedure, a writ of error was a writ issued by an appellate court directing a lower court to deliver the record in the case for review. It was the most common form of remedial process available to the losing party after the final determination of the case on its merits. Similarly in the older common law context, a citation was a court-issued writ commanding a person to appear at a certain time and place in order to do something demanded in the writ, or to show cause for not doing something demanded.

Issues

1. Whether the courts of the United States have jurisdiction to hear a case in which one alien sues another alien.

Procedural history

1. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky held that the courts did not have jurisdiction in a case where the parties were both aliens.
2. Writ of error to the Supreme Court.

Holding

Where the writ of error lacks a citation, the writ of error must be dismissed. But see Mason v. Ship Blaireau (6 U.S. 240, 2 Cranch 240) for a case deciding the question of whether the courts of the United States may hear a case in which the parties are both aliens.