[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: KMC
Date: 05 Dec 2001
Time: 10:16:30
The basic idea is that dj is a new remedy, not new jurisdiction. So you look to see what the action would have been in the absence of the new remedy. You ask whether federal question jurisdiction would have existed for the unscrambled lawsuit that would have previously been brought; you ask whether a jury right would exist for the unscrambled lawsuit; and (although here the cases are in some disarray) you ask who would have the burden of proof in the unscrambled lawsuit.
A good source here is Wright's treatise on Federal Courts sec. 18 (jurisdiction), sec. 100 (declaratory judgment).