Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/275/449/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 10:25:00+00:00

Document:
1. A writ of error will not lie under Jud.Code, § 237(a), to review the judgment of a state court upon the ground that it failed to give full faith and credit, as required by Art. IV, § 1, of the Constitution, to the judgment of a court of another state, but the papers may be treated as an application for certiorari, and that writ may be issued thereon. P. 275 U. S. 450.
2. The Full Faith and Credit Clause requires that the judgment of a state court which had jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter, shall be given in the courts of every other state the same credit, validity, and effect as it has in the state where it was rendered, and be equally conclusive upon the merits, and that only such defenses as would be good to a suit thereon in that state can be relied on in the courts of any other state. P. 275 U. S. 451.
3. R. recovered a judgment by default against M in an action on a Washington judgment in an Oregon Court in which M, after being personally served while temporarily in Oregon, had appeared and demurred to the complaint, but had elected not to plead further when the demurrer was overruled. In a subsequent action on the Oregon judgment in Washington, the Washington court refused to enforce it upon the ground that the original Washington judgment had expired and become a nullity by lapse of time under the statutes of that state, before the Oregon judgment was rendered, so that the latter was without legal foundation, and, as it would have been void if rendered under like circumstances in a court of Washington, could be given no force or effect when sued upon in Washington. Held error, since the Oregon judgment, even though erroneous, was valid and conclusive between the parties in Oregon, and, under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, was equally conclusive in Washington.
Certiorari to a judgment of the Supreme Court of Washington denying relief in an action on an Oregon judgment. The writ of error is dismissed and certiorari granted.
This writ of error is brought to review a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Washington which is challenged on the ground that the full faith and credit prescribed by § 1 of Article IV of the Constitution was not given to a judgment of a court of the State of Oregon on which the plaintiff in error relied. As this does not present a ground for the writ of error under § 237(a) of the Judicial Code, as amended by the Jurisdictional Act of 1925, [Footnote 1] this writ is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. But, since the papers show adequate reason for invoking a review by a petition for certiorari, that writ is granted, [Footnote 2] and we proceed to the consideration of the case on the merits.
against him in default of answer for the amount of the original judgment, with interest.
Shortly thereafter, Roche brought this suit against McDonald, upon the Oregon judgment, in the superior court of Washington. McDonald answered, denying the validity of the Oregon judgment under a Washington statute which provided that, after six years from the rendition of any judgment, it should cease to be a charge against the judgment debtor, and no suit should be had extending its duration or continuing it in force beyond such six years. [Footnote 3] Roche replied, setting up and relying upon the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution.
"are not bound to give full faith and credit to the Oregon judgment according to its literal terms, but are privileged, and have the duty, to view that judgment in the light of the foundation upon which it rests and the judgment law of our own state."
rendered, and be equally conclusive upon the merits, and that only such defenses as would be good to a suit thereon in that state can be relied on in the courts of any other state. Mills v. Duryee, 7 Cranch 481, 11 U. S. 484; Hampton v. McConnel, 3 Wheat. 234, 16 U. S. 235; D'Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How. 165, 52 U. S. 175; Cheever v. Wilson, 9 Wall. 108, 76 U. S. 123; Hancock National Bank v. Farnum, 176 U. S. 640, 176 U. S. 643; Tilt v. Kelsey, 207 U. S. 43, 207 U. S. 57; Converse v. Hamilton, 224 U. S. 243, 224 U. S. 259. This rule is applicable where a judgment in one state is based upon a cause of action which arose in the state in which it is sought to be enforced, as well as in other cases, and the judgment, if valid where rendered, must be enforced in such other state although repugnant to its own statutes. Christmas v. Russell, 5 Wall. 290, 72 U. S. 302; Fauntleroy v. Lum, 210 U. S. 230, 210 U. S. 236; Kenney v. Supreme Lodge, 252 U. S. 411, 252 U. S. 415.
Kentucky judgment, the Court saying that, since that judgment was valid in Kentucky and conclusive between the parties there, it was not competent for any other state to authorize its courts to open the merits and review the cause or to enact that such a judgment should not receive the same faith and credit that by law it had in the courts of the state from which it was taken.
"The doctrine laid down by Chief Justice Marshall was"
"that the judgment of a state court should have the same credit, validity, and effect in every other court in the United States which it had in the state where it was pronounced, and that whatever pleas would be good to a suit thereon in such state, and none others, could be pleaded in any other court of the United States."
& Oregon Land Co., 192 U. S. 355, and it needs no authority to show that it cannot be impeached either in or out of the state by showing that it was based upon a mistake of law. Of course, a want of jurisdiction over either the person or the subject matter might be shown. Andrews v. Andrews, 188 U. S. 14; Clarke v. Clarke, 178 U. S. 186. But, as the jurisdiction of the Missouri court is not open to dispute, the judgment cannot be impeached in Mississippi even if it went upon a misapprehension of the Mississippi law."
This case was cited and followed in American Express Co. v. Mullins, 212 U. S. 311, 212 U. S. 314, holding that, under the full faith and credit clause, a judgment in one state was conclusive as to all the media concludendi, and could not be impeached in another state by showing that it was based upon a mistake of law.
"In Fauntleroy v. Lum, 210 U. S. 230, it was held that the courts of Mississippi were bound to enforce a judgment rendered in Missouri upon a cause of action arising in Mississippi and illegal and void there. The policy of Mississippi was more actively contravened in that case than the policy of Illinois is in this. Therefore, the fact that here, the original cause of action could not have been maintained in Illinois is not an answer to a suit upon the judgment. See Christmas v. Russell, 5 Wall. 290; Converse v. Hamilton, 224 U. S. 243."
of that judgment in Washington is, in substance, that it must there be denied validity because it contravenes the Washington statute, and would have been void if rendered in a court of Washington -- that is, in effect, that it was based upon an error of law. It cannot be impeached upon that ground. If McDonald desired to rely upon the Washington statute as a protection from any judgment that would extend the force of the Washington judgment beyond six years from its rendition, he should have set up that statute in the court of Oregon and submitted to that court the question of its construction and effect. And even if this had been done, he could not thereafter have impeached the validity of the judgment because of a misapprehension of the Washington law. In short, the Oregon judgment, being valid and conclusive between the parties in that state, was equally conclusive in the courts of Washington, and, under the full faith and credit clause, should have been enforced by them.
The judgment of the Supreme Court of Washington is reversed, and the case remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
43 Stat. 936, c. 229 (28 U.S.C.A § 344); printed as an Appendix to the Revised Rules of this Court, 266 U.S. 687.

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