40 Ga. 206 | Ga. | 1869
The question presented for our consideration and judgment, in this case, is whether the complainant has the right, in a Court of Equity, to enjoin the defendant (he being a citizen of this State) fz’om enforcing the collection of a judgment obtained by him, against the complainant, and his securities, in the Supreme Court of the city of New York, upon the statement of facts contained in the record. The defendant, Scheuerznazi, sued the complainant, Engel, in the Courts of this State, on a claim for $5,000 00, obtained a judgment thereon, which has been paid off and satisfied. Whilst the suit was pending in_ the Courts of this State, Scheuerman' sued Engel, in the Supreme Court of New York, for the same identical claim, and held him to bail there. The complainant alleges in his bill pz’aying for the injunction, that after he had paid off and satisfied the judgment obtained against him in this State, the' defendant fraudulently led him to believe, both by word and act, that the suit pending against him in New York would be abandoned, and, thereby, prevented him from making his defence thereto, as he otherwise should have done; that the defendant, with a full knowledge that the judgment obtained in this State had been paid off and satisfied, afterwards proceeded in the New York Court and obtained' a judgment there against him, for the same identical demand, and' is endeavoring to enforce its collection against him and his securities there.
This bill is not filed for the purpose of restraining the proceedings of the Court of New York ; the Courts of this State have no jurisdiction to do that; nor would the Courts of this State have jurisdiction to enjoin the enforcement of a judgment obtained in the Courts of New York, between citizens of that State, resident there. The question here is, whether a Court of Chancery, in this State, has jurisdiction to restrain the personal action of the defendant, so far as to prohibit him from enforcing .the collection'of the judgment obtained in the Courts,of New York, according to the facts of this case. There is a clear distinction as to the power and, authority of a Court of Equity, in this State, to restrain by injunction the proceedings of a Court in another State, and the power and authority of such Court, to restrain, by injunction, the personal action of a citizen of this State. In the one case, a Court of Equity, in this State, has no jurisdiction, in the other, it has jurisdiction to restrain, by injunction the personal action of the 'defendant himself from enforcing an unconsaientious demand in another State, whether that demand is reduced to judgment or not, upon a proper case being fbade.
The record, now before us, in our judgment, makes such a case. The defendant voluntarily came into the Courts of this State, in the first instance, to have his claim adjudicated, and that claim has been adjudicated therein,- paid off and discharged. We are not aware that comity between the several States of the Union, requires that the Courts of this State shall assume that the Courts of the State of New York are any more competent todiear and decide the defendant’s claim, and to do him justice, than are the Courts of this State, to the jurisdiction of which, he voluntarily submitted the same for adjudication, in the first instance. In restraining him, by injunction, from enforcing this unconscientious demand, in the State of New York, the Court acts upon his conscience, in personam, and not upon the Courts of that State; the per—
Let the judgment of the Court below be reversed.