Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/81432/christmas-vs-russell
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 04:41:25+00:00

Document:
"No action shall be maintained on any judgment or decree rendered by any court without this state against any person who, at the time of the commencement of the action in which such judgment or decree was or shall be rendered, was or shall be a resident of this state, in any case where the cause of action would have been barred by any act of limitation of this state if such suit had been brought therein"
as conflicting therefore with the provision of the Constitution (Art. IV, § 1), which ordains that "full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
2. A plea of fraud in obtaining a judgment sued upon, cannot be demurred to generally because not showing the particulars of the fraud set up. Going to a matter of form, the demurrer should be special.
3. Subject to the qualification that they are open to inquiry as to the jurisdiction of the court which gave them and as to notice to the defendant, the judgment of a state court, not reversed by a superior court having jurisdiction nor set aside by a direct proceeding in chancery, is conclusive in the courts of all the other states where the subject matter of controversy is the same.
In March, 1840, Christmas, being a citizen and resident of Mississippi, made at Vicksburg, in that state, and there delivered to one Samuel a promissory note, promising to pay to his order in March, 1841, a sum certain. This note was endorsed by Samuel to Russell a citizen and resident of Kentucky. By statute of Mississippi, action on this note was barred by limitation, after six years, that is to say, was barred in March, 1847. In 1853, the defendant, who was still and had continuously been a resident of Mississippi, having a mansion house therein, went into Kentucky on a visit, and was there sued in one of the state courts upon the note.
Defense was taken on a statute of limitations of Mississippi and otherwise, and the matter having been taken to the Court of Appeal of Kentucky and returned thence, judgment was entered below in favor of the plaintiff.
A transcript being promptly carried into Mississippi, the place of the domicil of Christmas, an action of debt was brought upon it in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi, the action which was the subject of the writ of error now before this Court.
of the United States, declaring that "full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings in every other state," and that "Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such records shall be proved, and the effect thereof."
"That at the time the cause of action accrued, and thenceforth until suit was brought in Kentucky, and at the time when said suit was brought, he was a resident of Mississippi, and that the cause of action would have been barred by an act of limitation of that state, if the suit had been brought therein, and so by the law of Mississippi, no action could be maintained in said state upon the said judgment."
"4th. That the judgment set forth was obtained and procured by the plaintiff by fraud of the said plaintiff."
"6th. That the said suit in which judgment was obtained, was instituted to evade the laws of Mississippi, and in fraud of said laws."
"No action shall be maintained on any judgment or decree rendered by any court without this state against any person who, at the time of the commencement of the action in which such judgment or decree was or shall be rendered, was or shall be a resident of this state, in any case where the cause of such action would have been barred by any act of limitation of this state, if such suit had been brought therein. "
To these pleas the plaintiff below demurred. The demurrer was sustained, and judgment having gone for the plaintiff, the question on error here was, as to the sufficiency of these pleas, or either of them, to bar the action.
Wilson, on the eleventh day of November, 1857, recovered judgment in one of the county courts in the State of Kentucky, against the plaintiff in error, for the sum of five thousand six hundred and thirty-four dollars and thirteen cents, which, on the thirty-first day of March, 1859, was affirmed in the Court of Appeals. Present record shows that the action in that case was assumpsit, and that it was founded upon a certain promissory note, signed by the defendant in that suit, and dated at Vicksburg, in the State of Mississippi, on the tenth day of March, 1840, and that it was payable at the Merchants' Bank, in New Orleans, and was duly endorsed to the plaintiff by the payee. Process was duly served upon the defendant, and he appeared in the case and pleaded to the declaration. Several defenses were set up, but they were all finally overruled, and the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff.
On the fourth day of June, 1854, the prevailing party in that suit instituted the present suit in the court below, which was an action of debt on that judgment, as appears by the transcript. Defendant was duly served with process, and appeared and filed six pleas in answer to the action. Reference, however, need only be particularly made to the second and fourth, as they embody the material questions presented for decision. Substance and effect of the second plea were that the note, at the commencement of the suit in Kentucky, was barred by the statute of limitations of Mississippi, the defendant having been a domiciled citizen of that state when the cause of action accrued, and from that time to the commencement of the suit.
declaration was procured by the fraud of the plaintiff in that suit. Plaintiff demurred to these pleas, as well as to the fifth and sixth, and the court sustained the demurrers.
First plea was nul tiel record, but the finding of the court under the issue joined, negatived the plea.
Third plea was payment, to which the plaintiff replied, and the jury found in his favor.
"No action shall be maintained on any judgment or decree rendered by any court without this state against any person who, at the time of the commencement of the action in which such judgment or decree was or shall be rendered, was or shall be a resident of this state, in any case where the cause of action would have been barred by any act of limitation of this state, if such suit had been brought therein. [ Footnote 2 ]"
Material facts are that the defendant, being a citizen and resident of Mississippi, made the note to the payee, who endorsed the same to the plaintiff, a citizen and resident of Kentucky. Such causes of action are barred by limitation, under the Mississippi statute, in six years after the cause of action accrues. Sometime in 1853, the defendant went into Kentucky on a visit, and while there was sued on the note. He pleaded, among other pleas, the statute of limitations of Mississippi, and, on the first trial, a verdict was found in his favor; but the judgment was reversed on appeal, and at the second trial the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff.
which was the foundation of the judgment. Substantial import of the provision is that judgments recovered in other states against the citizens of Mississippi shall not be enforced in the tribunals of that state, if the cause of action which was the foundation of the judgment would have been barred in her tribunals by her statute of limitations.
Nothing can be plainer than the proposition is, that the judgment mentioned in the declaration was a valid judgment in the state where it was rendered. Jurisdiction of the case was undeniable, and the defendant being found in that jurisdiction, was duly served with process, and appeared and made full defense. Instead of being a statute of limitations in any sense known to the law, the provision, in legal effect, is but an attempt to give operation to the statute of limitations of that state in all the other states of the Union by denying the efficacy of any judgment recovered in another state against a citizen of Mississippi for any cause of action which was barred in her tribunals under that law. Where the cause of action which led to the judgment was not barred by her statute of limitations the judgment may be enforced; but if it would have been barred in her tribunals, under her statute, then the prohibition is absolute that no action shall be maintained on the judgment.
"full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such records shall be proved, and the effect thereof."
"shall have such faith and credit given to them in every other court in the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state from whence the said records were or shall be taken. [ Footnote 6 ] "
"It has been settled, upon solemn argument, that that enactment does declare the effect of the records as evidence when duly authenticated. . . . If a judgment is conclusive in the state where it was pronounced, it is equally conclusive everywhere"
credit that by law it had in the state courts from which it was taken.
Where the objection is to matter of substance, a general demurrer is sufficient; but where it is to matter of form only, a special demurrer is necessary. Demurrers, says Chitty, are either general or special -- general when no particular cause is alleged; special when the particular imperfection is pointed out and insisted upon as the ground of demurrer. The former will suffice when the pleading is defective in substance, and the latter is requisite where the objection is only to the form of the pleading. [ Footnote 12 ] Obviously the objection is to the form of the plea, and is not well taken by a general demurrer.
to the case, and the decision was that the record of a state court, duly authenticated under the act of Congress, must have in every other court of the United States such faith and credit as it had in the state court from whence it was taken, and that nil debet was not a good plea to such an action.
Congress, say the court, have declared the effect of the record by declaring what faith and credit shall be given to it. Adopting the language of the court in that case, we say that the defendant had full notice of the suit, and it is beyond all doubt that the judgment of the court was conclusive upon the parties in that state. "It must, therefore, be conclusive here also." Unless the merits are open to exception and trial between the parties, it is difficult to see how the plea of fraud can be admitted as an answer to the action.
"shall have such faith and credit given to them in every other court within the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state from whence"
5. Exactly the same point was decided in the case of Benton v. Burgot, [ Footnote 17 ] which, in all respects, was substantially like the present case. The action was debt on judgment recovered in a court of another state, and the defendant appeared and pleaded nil debet, and that the judgment was obtained by fraud, imposition, and mistake, and without consideration.
Revised Code, pp. 43, 400.
38 U. S. 13 Pet. 312.
Bronson v. Kinzie, 1 How. 315; Angell on Limitations 18.
1 Stat. at Large 122; D'Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 175.
Mills v. Duryee, 7 Cranch 483.
Hampton v. McConnel, 3 Wheat. 332; Nations v. Johnson, 24 How. 203; D'Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 165; Webster v. Reid, 11 How. 460.
Bissell v. Briggs, 9 Mass. 462; United States Bank v. Merchants' Bank, 7 Gill 430.
2 Story on Constitution (3d ed) § 1313.
Nowlan v. Geddes, 1 East 634; Gundry v. Feltham, 1 Term 334; Stephens on Pleading 142.
1 Chitty's Pleading 663; Snyder v. Croy, 2 Johnson 428.
2 Saunders on Pleading and Evidence part 1, p. 63.
Bank of Australasia v. Nias, 4 English Law & Equity 252.
D'Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 165; Webster v. Reid, 11 How. 437.
Voorhees v. United States Bank, 10 Pet. 449; Huff v. Hutchingson, 14 How. 588.
10 Sergeant & Rawle 240.
Granger v. Clark, 22 Me 130.
Anderson v. Anderson, 8 Ohio 108.
B. & W. Railroad v. Sparhawk, 1 Allen 448; Homer v. Fish, 1 Pickering 435.
McRae v. Mattoon, 13 Pickering 57.
Atkinsons v. Allen, 12 Vt. 624.
Dobson v. Pearce, 2 Kernan 165.
Hollister v. Abbott, 11 Foster 448; Rathbone v. Terry, 1 R.I. 77; Topp v. Bank, 2 Swan, p. 188; Wall v. Wall, 28 Miss. 413.

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