ion of the Court to all the cases described,
without making in its terms any exception whatever, and without any
regard to the condition of the party. If there be any exception, it is
to be implied, against the express words of the article. In the second
class, the jurisdiction depends entirely on the character of the
parties. In this are comprehended 'controversies between two or more
States, between a State and citizens of another State,' and 'between a
State and foreign States, citizens or subjects.' If these be the
parties, it is entirely unimportant, what may be the subject of
controversy. Be it what it may, these parties have a constitutional
right to come into the courts of the Union."[140]

Judicial power is "the power of a court to decide and pronounce a
judgment and carry it into effect between persons and parties who bring
a case before it for decision."[141] The meaning attached to the terms
"cases" and "controversies" determines therefore the extent of the
judicial power, as well as the capacity of the federal courts to receive
jurisdiction. As Chief Justice Marshall declared in Osborn _v._ Bank of
the United States, judicial power is capable of acting only when the
subject is submitted in a case, and a case arises only when a party
asserts his rights "in a form prescribed by law."[142] Many years later
Justice Field, relying upon Chisholm _v._ Georgia,[143] and Tucker's
edition of Blackstone, amended this definition by holding that
"controversies," to the extent that they differ from "cases," include
only suits of a civil nature. He continued: "By cases and controversies
are intended the claims of litigants brought before the courts for
determination by such regular proceedings as are established by law or
custom for the protection or enforcement of rights, or the prevention,
redress, or punishment of wrongs. Whenever the claim of a party under
the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States takes such a
form that the judicial power is capable of acting upon it, then it has
become a case. The term implies the existence of present or possible
adverse parties whose contentions are submitted to the Court for
adjudication."[144] The definitions propounded by Chief Justice Marshall
and Justice Field were quoted with approval in Muskrat _v._ United
States,[145] where the Court held that the exercise of judicial power is
limited to cases and controversies and emphasized "adverse litigants,"
"adverse inte