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An important case before the U. S. Supreme Court, decided in 1821. In 1820, P. J. and M. J. Cohen were presented before the Quarter Sessions Court at Norfolk for selling lottery tickets in defiance of the statute of the State prohibiting such sales. The Cohens appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States against the fine imposed by the Virginia court, pleading the legality of their sale under the "Act to amend the charter of the city of Washington," passed by Congress 1812, which permitted the drawing of lotteries. The attorney for Virginia denied the jurisdiction of the court, because a State was defendant (see Eleventh Amendment) and because in cases in which States were parties its jurisdiction was original and not appellate. But the court decided that the Eleventh Amendment did not apply, and that in constitutional cases it had always appellate jurisdiction