The opinion of the court was delivered by
This appeal is from an order denying a second successive motion to set aside a decree of separate maintenance.
The decree was entered in Johnson County on January 25, 1972. The first motion to set this decree aside was filed on February 18, 1972, and denied on April 4, 1972. No appeal was perfected. A second motion was filed on October 16,1972, and denied on November 9, 1972. This apрeal followed.
When a court has jurisdiction of the parties to an action and of
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the subject matter and renders a judgment within its cоmpetency such judgment is final and conclusive unless corrected or modified on appeal. The jurisdiction and authority of a court to enter upon inquiry and make a decision is not limited to deciding a case rightly but includes the power to decide it wrongly. The test of jurisdiction is not a correct decision but the right to enter upon inquiry and make a decision. There must be some finality in judicial decisions and it is generally held jurisdiction includes the power to decide a case wrongly. (See
Hindman v. Shepard,
The second successive motion, filed in the sаme court, in the same cause of action, involving identical parties and seeking identical relief, embodied all four identities nеcessary to constitute
res judicata. (Benz v. Hines and Tarr,
In
Jayhawk Equipment Co. v. Mentzer,
“The doctrine of res judicata is plain and intelligible, and amounts simply to this — that a cause of action once finally determined, without appeal, between the parties, on the merits, by a competent tribunal cannot after-wards be litigated by a new proceeding, either before the same or any other tribunal.” (p. 61.)
Therefore if the Johnson County court had subject matter jurisdiction of the sepаrate maintenance action further inquiry by this court is foreclosed. The district courts of this state have subject matter jurisdiction of aсtions for separate maintenance and divorce. (K. S. A. 60-1601,
et seq.,
as amended; see also the pre-code case of
Jeffers v. Jeffers,
In addition,
Neagle v. Brooks,
“An appeal from an order denying a motion under K. S. A. 60-260 (b) for relief from a judgmеnt presents for appellate review only the order of denial and not the judgment.” (Syl. f 1.)
“A motion for relief from a final judgment under K. S. A. 60-260 (b) is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and upon appeal its action is reviewable only for abuse of discretion.” (Syl. f 3.)
. “K. S. A. 60-260 (b) was nоt intended as an alternative method of appellate review, nor as a means of circumventing time limits on appeal, except where compelling considerations of justice require that course. It was not intended to provide a procedure to challenge a supposed legal error of the court, nor to obtain relief from errors which are readily corrеctable on appeal.” (Syl. f 4.)
*455 In denying the second motion the district court held that the matters presented in the second succеssive motion were res judicata. The merits of that holding must rest on the finality of the unappealed order denying the first motion. The first order became finаl thirty days after it was entered. (See K. S. A. 60-2103.)
In the present case we are foreclosed from even inquiring into the question of whether the triаl court abused its discretion because no appeal was taken from the order of April 4, denying the first motion. The court had jurisdiction to enter the original decree and the order denying the first motion under K. S. A. 60-260 (b) is now final.
The appellant Neal L. Taber urges this court to examinе the facts of the present case in light of the provisions of K. S. A. 1972 Supp. 60-213 (a), relating to compulsory counter-claims, and other changes in our Code of Civil Procedure, relating to actions for divorce and separate maintenance.
Barbara J. Taber and Neal L. Taber were married and lived for years in Cherokee County, Kansas. On December 10, 1971, Neal filed for a divorce in that county аnd obtained personal service on his wife. While the divorce action was pending his wife, Barbara, moved to Johnson County and filed the separate maintenance action previously discussed. The action was filed December 22, 1971, personal service was obtained and a default decree was rendered January 25, 1972. The Johnson County court was apparently unaware of the divorce action pending in Cherokee County. The decree covered a division of property, custody of a child, and payments for support of the wife.
A motion was filed by attorneys for the wife in Cherokee County which had the effect of delaying the divorce hearing until after the Johnson County decree was entered. Then Barbara filed a motion for summary judgment in the Cherokee County divorce case based on the Johnson County decree. The Cherokee County corn! sustained that portion of the motion relating to the рroperty division, child custody and support payments. Custody of the child was awarded to the husband by both courts. A notice of appеal from this summary judgment in Cherokee County was filed but was later abandoned and dismissed by the court. The record before us indicates the Cherоkee court thereafter heard the divorce action and granted a divorce to the husband, Neal, on March 5, 1972. *456 The identicаl provisions for division of property and custody of the child, contained in the Johnson County decree, were incorporatеd in the Cherokee County decree. No appeal was perfected from the divorce decree and it is now final.
Apрellant contends that certain changes were made in the Code of Civil Procedure relating to compulsory counter-clаims (60-213 [a], supra) and relating to actions for divorce and alimony (K. S. A. 60-1601, et seq., as amended) which require all claims arising out of the marital relationship to be adjudicated by the court which first obtains venue jurisdiction.
In view of the confusion and multiple litigation between the parties in this case wе are tempted to examine these new statutes. We cannot approve the forum shopping and legal maneuvering which is аpparent in the record on appeal. However, appellate courts do not decide academic quеstions merely to make a precedent when such decisions can have no effect upon the rights of those interested.
(Carr v. Diamond,
Therefore the order appealed from must be affirmed and we reluctantly decline the appellants invitation to render an advisory opinion.