rt of law or equity; but that
court to which it appropriately belongs can act judicially upon the
party and the subject of the suit, unless it shall be made apparent to
the court that the judicial determination of the case has been
withdrawn from the court of general jurisdiction to an inferior and
limited one. It is a necessary presumption that the court of general
jurisdiction can act upon the given case, when nothing to the
contrary appears; hence has arisen the rule that the party claiming an
exemption from its process must set out the reason by a special plea
in abatement, and show that some inferior court of law or equity has
the exclusive cognizance of the case, otherwise the superior court
must proceed in virtue of its general jurisdiction. A motion to
dismiss, therefore, cannot be entertained, as it does not disclose a
case of exception; and if a plea in abatement is put in, it must not
only make out the exception, but point to the particular court to
which the case belongs. There are other classes of cases where the
objection to the jurisdiction is of a different nature, as on a bill
in chancery, that the subject-matter is cognizable only by the King in
Council, or that the parties defendant cannot be brought before any
municipal court on account of their sovereign character or the nature
of the controversy; or to the very common cases which present the
question, whether the cause belong to a court of law or equity. To
such cases, a plea in abatement would not be applicable, because the
plaintiff could not sue in an inferior court. The objection goes to a
denial of any jurisdiction of a municipal court in the one class of
cases, and to the jurisdiction of any court of equity or of law in the
other, on which last the court decides according to its discretion.

"An objection to jurisdiction on the ground of exemption from the
process of the court in which the suit is brought, or the manner in
which a defendant is brought into it, is waived by appearance and
pleading to issue; but when the objection goes to the power of the
court over the parties or the subject-matter, the defendant need not,
for he cannot, give the plaintiff a better writ. Where an inferior
court can have no jurisdiction of a case of law or equity, the ground
of objection is not taken by plea in abatement, as an exception of the
given case from the otherwise general jurisdiction of the court;
appearance does not cure the defect of judicial power