Delpit

This was an action to recover damages for assault and false imprisonment. The plaintiff is a citizen and resident of the state of California. The defendant is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United States. The amount in controversy is less than $3,000. The action was commenced in a state court of California, but was removed to the United States District Court on the petition of the defendant, on the ground that the controversy is between citizens of different states, and “that the defendant, the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, is organized under and depends upon the laws of the United States of America, namely, the Shipping Act of 1916, and is incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia; and this suit arises under a federal law regulating commerce, to wit, said Shipping Act of 1916, whereof the District Court of the United States has *61 original jurisdiction under section 24 of the Judicial Code.”

After removal, a trial was had, resulting in a judgment in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff prosecuted a writ of error, and his first assignment of error challenges the jurisdiction of the court below, on the ground…