Grover Baker Co v. Radcliffe

Decision Date08 December 1890
Citation34 L.Ed. 670,11 S.Ct. 92,137 U.S. 287
PartiesGROVER & BAKER S. M. CO. v. RADCLIFFE
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

[Statement of Case from pages 287-292 intentionally omitted] Albert Constable, for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 292-294 intentionally omitted] J. A. J. Creswell, for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLR , after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The Maryland circuit court arrived at its conclusion upon the ground that the statute of Pennsylvania relied on did not authorize the prothonotary of the court of common pleas of that state to enter the judgment; and the court of appeals of Maryland reached the same result upon the ground that the judgment was void as against John Benge, because the court rendering it had acquired no jurisdiction over his person. It is settled that notwithstanding the provision of the constitution of the United States, which declares that 'full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every otherstate,' (article 4, § 1,) and the act of congress passed in pursuance thereof, (1 St. 122; Rev. St. § 905,) and notwithstanding the averments in the record of the judgment itself, the jurisdiction of the court by which a judgment is rendered in any state may be questioned in a collateral proceeding; that the jurisdiction of a foreign court over the person or the subject-matter, embraced in the judgment or decree of such court, is always open to inquiry; that, in this respect, a court of another state is to be regarded as a foreign court; and that a personal judgment is without validity if rendered by a state court in an action upon a money demand against a non-resident of the state, upon whom no personal service of process within the state was made, and who did not appear. D'Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 165; Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457; Hall v. Lanning, 91 U. S. 160; Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714. The rule is not otherwise in the state of Pennsylvania, where the judgment in question was rendered, (Guthrie v. Lowry, 84 Pa. St. 533; Scott v. Noble, 72 Pa. St. 115; Noble v. Oil Co., 79 Pa. St. 354; Steel v. Smith, 7 Watts & S. 447;) nor in the state of Maryland, where the action under review was brought upon it, (Bank of United States v. Merchants' Bank, 7 Gill, 415; Clark v. Bryan, 16 Md. 171; Weaver v. Boggs, 38 Md. 255.) And the distinction between the validity of a judgment rendered in one state, under its local laws upon the subject, and its validity in another state, is recognized by the highest tribunals of each of these states. Thus, in Steel v. Smith, 7 Watts & S. 447, it was decided, in 1844, that a judgment of a court of another state does not bind the person of the defendant, in another jurisdiction, though it might do so under the laws of the state in which the action was brought, and that the act of congress does not preclude inquiry into the jurisdiction, or the right of the state to confer it. The action was brought on a judgment rendered in Louisiana, and Mr. Chief Justice GIBSON, in delivering the opinion of the court, said: 'The record shows that there was service on one of the joint owners which, in the estimation of the law of the court, is service on all; for it is affirmed in Hill v. Bowman, already quoted, that the state of Louisiana holds all persons amenable to the process of her courts, whether citizens or aliens, and whether present or absent. It was ruled in George v. Fitzgerald, 12 La. 604, that a defendant, though he reside in another state, having neither domicile, interest, nor agent in Louisiana, and having never been within its territorial limits, may yet be sued in its courts by the instrumentality of a curator appointed by the court to represent and defend him. All this is clear enough, as well as that there was in this instance a general appearance by attorney, and a judgment against all the defendants, which would have full faith and credit given to it in the courts of the state. But that a judgment is always regular when there has been an appearance by attorney, with or without warrant, and that it cannot be impeached collaterally for anything but fraud or collusion, is a municipal principle, and not an international one having place in a question of state jurisdiction or sovereignty. Now, though the courts of o uisiana would enforce this judgment against the persons of the defendants, if found within reach of their process, yet, where there is an attempt to enforce it by the process of another state, it behooves the court whose assistance is invoked to look narrowly into the constitutional injunction, and give the statute to carry it out a reasonable interpretation.' Referring to section 1307 of Mr. Justice Story's Commentaries on the Constitution, and the cases cited, to which he adds Benton v. Burgot, 10 Serg. & R. 240, the learned judge inquires: 'What, then, is the right of a state to exercise authority over the persons of those who belong to another jurisdiction, and who have perhaps not been out of the boundaries of it?' and quotes from Vattel, Burge, and from Mr. Justice Story, (Confl. Laws, c. 14, § 539,) that "no sovereignty can extend its process beyond its own territorial limits, to subject other persons or property to its judicial decisions. Every exertion of authority beyond these limits is a mere pullity, and incapable of binding such persons or property in other tribunals;" and thus continues: 'Such is the familiar, reasonable, and just principle of the law of nations; and it is scarce supposable that the framers of the constitution designed to abrogate it between states which were to remain as independent of each other, for all but national purposes, as they were before the Revolution. Certainly it was not intended to legitimate an assumption of extraterritorial jurisdiction which would confound all distinctive...

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  • Williams v. State of North Carolina
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    • 21 d1 Dezembro d1 1942
    ...Rosner, supra, note 5, 294 U.S. at page 642, 55 S.Ct. at page 592, 19 L.Ed. 1100, 100 A.L.R. 1133. 7 Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Co. v. Radcliffe, 137 U.S. 287, 11 S.Ct. 92, 34 L.Ed. 670; National Exchange Bank v. Wiley, 195 U.S. 257, 25 S.Ct. 70, 49 L.Ed. 184; Baker v. Baker, Eccles & Co......
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    ...Compare National Exchange Bank of Tiffin v. Wiley, 195 U.S. 257, 25 S.Ct. 70, 49 L.Ed. 184; Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Co. v. Radcliffe, 137 U.S. 287, 11 S.Ct. 92, 34 L.Ed. 670. C. Where one party, at its leisure and drawing upon expert legal advice, drafts a form contract, complete with......
  • Old Dominion Copper Mining & Smelting Co. v. Bigelow
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    • 14 d2 Setembro d2 1909
    ...of state where judgment was entered, was within the terms of a power of attorney (Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Co. v. Radcliffe, 137 U. S. 287, 295, 11 Sup. Ct. 92, 34 L. Ed. 670); as to validity of decree of foreign court respecting devolution of real estate within another state (Clarke v......
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    ...the authorities which support said doctrine of sovereign control with more or less force are these: Grover & Baker Machine Co. v. Radcliffe, 137 U. S. 287, 11 Sup. Ct. 92, 34 L. Ed. 670; Id., 66 Md. 511, 8 Atl. 265; Henderson v. Staniford, 105 Mass. 504, 7 Am. Rep. 551; Mercantile Co. v. Sh......
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