ers in the county voted in favor of the change. The
proposal was approved, whereupon, without any further action by
Congress, Virginia declared the county annexed and resumed full
jurisdiction over it. Thirty years later, in a suit to recover taxes
paid to the State, the Supreme Court called the retrocession "a
violation of the Constitution" but held that since Congress had
recognized the transfer as a settled fact, a resident of the county was
estopped from challenging it.[1343]

CONTINUANCE OF STATE LAWS

Under the act of July 16, 1790,[1344] which provided for the
establishment of the seat of government, State laws were continued in
operation until Congress created a government for the District. The
Supreme Court intimated that this was "perhaps, only declaratory of a
principle which would have been in full operation without such
declaration."[1345] In 1801 Congress declared that the laws of Virginia
and Maryland "as they now exist, shall be and continue in force" in the
respective portions of the District ceded by those States.[1346] The
only effect of the cession upon individuals was to terminate their State
citizenship and the jurisdiction of the State governments over
them;[1347] contract obligations were not affected,[1348] and liens on
property for debt were continued.[1349]

STATUS OF THE DISTRICT TODAY

Chief Justice Marshall ruled in the early case of Hepburn _v._
Ellzey[1350] that the District of Columbia is not a State within the
meaning of the diversity of citizenship clause of article III. This view
was consistently adhered to for nearly a century and a half in the
interpretation of later acts of Congress regulating the jurisdiction of
federal courts.[1351] In 1940, however, Congress expressly authorized
those courts to take jurisdiction of nonfederal controversies between
residents of the District of Columbia and citizens of a State. By a
five-to-four decision that statute was held constitutional, but the
Justices who voted to sustain it were not in agreement as to the grounds
of the decision.[1352] Three found it to be an appropriate exercise of
the power of Congress to legislate for the District of Columbia without
reference to article III.[1353] Six members of the Court rejected this
theory, but two of the six joined in upholding the act on another ground
which seven of their brethren considered untenable,--namely, that
Hepburn _v._ Ellzey was erroneously decided and that the District of
Col