Though, as has been seen, the suability of the United States, and, since the Eleventh Amendment, of an individual State of the Union, by a citizen is not and has not been questioned, the courts have often found great difficulty in determining just when a suit may be said to be against the State itself, and, therefore, beyond their jurisdiction, and when against the officials of the State personally, in which case they have jurisdiction. Because the courts have not been able to lay down any fully satisfactory rule upon this point, it will be necessary to consider seriatim the more important cases in which the question has been involved.

28 134 U. S. 1; 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 504; 33 L. ed. 842.

There will first be considered the cases in which the claim has been set up, but denied by the court, that the suit on trial is one against the State, and as such beyond the competence of the court to entertain.