NCJ Number
118939
Date Published
1989
Length
164 pages
Annotation
Since the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave Federal courts diversity jurisdiction, proposals have been made to abolish or curtail this power in favor of State jurisdiction.
Abstract
Federal jurisdiction is based on "controversies between citizens of different States, and between a State: or citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects." Positions on the transfer of diversity jurisdiction range from keeping it intact to eliminating it completely. The basic reason for retaining diversity jurisdiction in courts has been to protect out-of-State litigants from bias. Another concern is the belief that the quality of justice is better in Federal courts because the judges are better qualified and there is less congestion and better rules of procedure. There are also those who believe that the present system encourages Federal and State systems to borrow from each other to the benefit of both systems. A major reason to transfer diversity cases to the State level is the increasing caseload on the Federal level. If these cases were given back to the States, a major problem would be how to distribute them among the States. Appendixes list methodology, in-State corporate plaintiffs, court case distribution, counties to receive 100 or more cases, and summary of proposed changes. 37 tables, 31 figures, and 49 notes.