“Jurisdiction can never depend upon the merits of the case brought before the court, but only upon its right to hear and decide at all.”
How later courts described this case
- “Jurisdiction can never depend upon the merits of the case brought before the court, but only upon its right to hear and decide at all.”
- "Jurisdiction is the power to decide a justiciable controversy ...." (citation omitted)
- “Jurisdiction can never depend upon the merits of the case brought before the court, but only upon its right to hear *160 and decide at all.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
ELIAS HANSEN, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I, too, think the complaint here brought in question states a cause of action. That is the only question presented for determination. This court is committed to the doctrine that the sufficiency of a complaint to state a cause of action for the removal of a public officer from office may be tested by a writ of prohibition. If a complaint seeking such results is fatally defective, a permanent writ of prohibition will issue. It may be, as indicated in the prevailing opinion, that such doctrine is not in accord with the principles applicable to writs of prohibition generally. But in my opinion we should not now repudiate, but should adhere, to such doctrine.
I concur in the order dissolving the alternative writ of prohibition and denying the application for a permanent writ.