## Facts

- Edward Livingston claimed an interest in the New Orleans “batture,” alluvial land along the Mississippi River, and began making improvements on the property.
- Local opposition arose, including threats of force against Livingston’s workers.
- The territorial governor sought federal intervention; President Thomas Jefferson directed federal officials to remove Livingston.
- The Secretary of State instructed the U.S. marshal to seize the land and eject Livingston.
- Livingston sued Jefferson personally in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Virginia for trespass to land located in the Territory of Orleans (later Louisiana).
- Jefferson filed a plea to the jurisdiction, arguing the alleged trespass concerned land outside the Virginia district; Livingston demurred, asserting jurisdiction based on Jefferson’s residence and service in Virginia.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal circuit court sitting in Virginia may hear an action for trespass to land located in another district or territory when the defendant resides in and is served within Virginia.
2. Whether trespass to land is a “local” action requiring suit where the land lies, rather than a “transitory” action that follows the defendant.

## Decision

- The court sustained Jefferson’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the action.
- It held trespass to land is a local action and cannot be adjudicated by a federal court whose district does not include the land.
- The court did not reach the merits of Livingston’s trespass allegations.
- The court did not decide any question of presidential immunity; dismissal rested solely on the local-action jurisdictional rule.

## Legal Principles

- Trespass to land is a local action that must be brought in the forum where the land is situated.
- A federal court cannot take cognizance of a local land action concerning property outside the territorial limits of its district, even if it has personal jurisdiction over the defendant.
- The distinction between local and transitory actions is part of the received common-law framework applied in federal courts to determine where particular actions may be brought.
- Federal court jurisdiction depends on the Constitution and laws of the United States; personal service within the district does not expand territorial authority over local land claims.

## Conclusion

The court dismissed Livingston’s Virginia trespass suit against Jefferson because trespass to land is a strictly local action that must be brought where the land is located, and the Virginia federal court lacked authority to adjudicate an alleged trespass on Louisiana land despite Jefferson’s presence in Virginia.


Livingston v. Jefferson, 15 F. Cas. 660 (C.C.D. Va. 1811)