127 Tenn. 32 | Tenn. | 1912
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Foust, having a judgment against Hamon, caused it to he levied upon certain property described in the bill. Thereupon Hamon filed his bill to enjoin the sale of the property, alleging as ground for the injunction that the judgment had been discharged in bankruptcy. He filed as an exhibit to the bill a paper purporting to be a copy of the discharge, but this was certified only by the clerk. Objection was made on the ground that the discharge was not properly authenticated under our statute, and it could not be used as evidence. The chancellor sustained this view, and denied the complainant relief. On appeal to the court of civil appeals, this judgment was reversed, and the case was then brought to this court by certiorari.
It is insisted that, inasmuch as the discharge in question was granted by one of the district courts of the United States sitting in this State, it should be treated as the judgment of a domestic court, and that the certificate of the clerk alone, without that of the presiding judge, would be sufficient under section 5579 of our Code, which reads: “A judicial record of this State is proved by the production of the original, or by a copy thereof, certified by the clerk or the person having the legal custody thereof, authenticated by his seal of office, if he have one.” Section 5580, however, makes no exception in favor of a federal court sitting within this State, as contrasted with. one sitting outside of the State.
' There is a decision of the supreme court, of the United States in which it is said, arguendo,. that a federal court sitting within a State is not a court foreign to the State, but practically a domestic court, and it is
We are of the opinion, therefore, that the decree of the court of civil appeals should be reversed, and that of the chancery court affirmed, with costs; and it is accordingly so ordered.