11 Pa. 394 | Pa. | 1849
The opinion of this court was delivered by
A judgment in foreign attachment, aifecting to bind not only the property attached, but the persons of defendants, not citizens of the state, or within its precincts at the time, is to be treated as a nullity by a court in another state which is called on to enforce it by action, even though it would bind the persons of defendants in the courts and by the laws of the state in which it was rendered. This is ruled in Smith v. Steele, reported in 7 W. & S. 447. In cases of foreign attachment, says the Chief Justice (speaking in reference to the judgment now invoked as a bar to this action), heretofore the judgment did not purport to bind the person. Here there is a formal recovery from the defendants, in solido, without privilege on the property attached, and it is, consequently, in personam. The case of Smith v. Steele was an attempt to enforce the judgment in this state, as a judgment against all the parties, although the defendants did not appear, either personally or by attorney, and never were within the jurisdiction of the court of Louisiana. This we refused to do, for reasons which appeared to us unanswerable, deciding that, .so far as regards any remedy here, the judgment in Louisiana was null and void. It is now contended by the same parties, that, although a nullity, it is good in bar to a suit brought on the original contract. It is insisted that the plaintiff’s claim is merged in the Louisiana judgment; that it is a full defence, either as a matter in bar, or as evidence ; and that the plaintiff, having pursued the defendant Smith to judgment on a just claim, is barred from an action against the other partners. The defendants insist on a “ distinction generally recognised (vide Story’s Conflict of Laws, § 598; 2 Kent Com. § 27,) between suits brought by a party to enforce a foreign judgment, and suits brought against a party who sets up a foreign judgment in bar of a suit, by way of defence. Where the defendant, as is there said, sets up a foreign judgment as a bar to proceedings, if it has been pronounced by a competent tribunal and carried into effect, the losing party has no right to institute a new suit elsewhere, and thus bring the matter again into controversy, and the other party is not to lose the protection -which a foreign judgment gave him. It is the res judicata which ought to be
In Vaneman v. Herdman, 3 W. 202, a judgment is ruled not to . be a bar to a subsequent action, even although an execution has been issued on the first judgment. Nothing but satisfaction bars a suit against other partners. This just and salutary act is entitled to a liberal construction; and, although this case does not come within its letter, it is clearly embraced by its spirit.
Judgment affirmed.