Scott, Trotter & Tilford v. Coleman

15 Ky. 349, 5 Litt. 349, 1824 Ky. LEXIS 111
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 14, 1824
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 15 Ky. 349 (Scott, Trotter & Tilford v. Coleman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott, Trotter & Tilford v. Coleman, 15 Ky. 349, 5 Litt. 349, 1824 Ky. LEXIS 111 (Ky. Ct. App. 1824).

Opinion

[349]*349Opinion op the Court,

by Judge Mills.

TO an action of assumpsit brought in the name of James Coleman, the surviving partner of Robert gowan & Co. the appellants pleaded non-assumpsit, ■with leave to give special matter in evidence. On the trial, the appellants gave in evidence, three records from the courts of the state of Pennsylvania, in which the demand due from them to Robert Megowan & Co. had been attached by foreign attachments in that state, The firm of the appellants had two houses, one in this state, where two of the partners resided, and one in the state of Pennsylvania, where the remaining partner resided, at which latter house, the demands set up by the appellee were contracted. On the failure of the house of Robert Megowan & Co. in this state, these attachments had issued against the house of the appellants there, two of them by creditors resident there, and one of them by George Trotter, one of the firm of appellants, against the house of himself and partners in Philadelphia. In one of these records, there is a final judgment, to wit, that in which Trotter himself is plaintiff; in another there isa judgment nisi; and in the third, there is no judgment. It was admitted on this trial, that the appellants, at their house in Philadelphia, had paid these judgments to the several plaintiffs therein, and the question arose, whether the appellants were entitled to a credit for the amount so paid in this action. The court below decided, that as there were no executions issued on said attachments, and the appellants had paid them without such executions, the payment could not avail them as a bar in this action; while the appellants insisted that the judgments alone were a sufficient authority for such payment, and that as the laws of the state of Pennsylvania were not produced, in their absence, the judgments must be taken as prima facie good authority, and as valid until impeached; and these are the questions presented for our consideration.

By the constitntion of iudJmentstlofst any of the states are in every state; but credft"eater more* conclusive effect when dence in ther state, than they are the* state** *** where they are rendered. When ajudgment of a sister state i produced,Sit will be pretrib^-íí jurisdiction* of the and that the the parties1-63 if it is im- ’ peached, the ¿LHies^on him who resists it. fews states°ar-e3 must be as other

[350]*350It must be granted to be a general principle of common law, that process must be executed or the judgment rendered must be invalid, and that naming a person and styling him a party in the writ or pleadings,, alone, without giving notice of the proceeding, cannot bind or affect his interest. This rule is, however, made subject to many exceptions by statutory or local reguin almost every country, and perhaps it is ne- * v * * 4 4 cessary for the ends of justice and the advancement of commerce, that such particular exceptions should exist, They generally7 authorise proceedings in rem, or by con-r ucti ve service of process. Such appears to he the foreign attachment in England by the custom of Lon-such the laws of several of the American States; suc^ *s our Proceet'ing by a domestic attachment in case of absconding debtors, and of our proceeding in chancery against absent defendants. As the different gov-ernments America may and do institute such proceedings, it is competent for them to make judgments rendered therein, conditionally binding only, or binding a certain state of the proceedings or at a certain conclusively finai, or incontestible.

The constitution of the United States, makes all judgments of any state, evidence, and entitled to full k^h and credit in every state; but it is settled by this court, in the case of Rogers vs. Coleman and ux, Hard, 413, that this clause does not require greater faith and credit, or a more conclusive effect to be given to judgmerits or decrees, when tendered as evidence in another state, than they “* “-—"j ..........are entitled to in the state where they are rendered. To what credit they are entitled at home, may, then, be often a subject of inquiry, when °ffered abroad; and, of course, the inquiry ar’ses3 must he who offers them, prove that they are where they are rendered,, or he who opposes' them, show that they have but a partial effect? If ifie former is adopted, it would render the constitutional rule of but little effect; for the judgment or decree produced, could prove nothing until its force at home, was Provec^ as a matter of fact and law. We, therefore, conceive the general rule to be,, that when the judgment or decree of a sister state is produced, render-one tribunals, we must presume that tribunal had jurisdiction, and authority, and that the act in pursuance of that authority, does conclude and [351]*351bind the parties named therein; and as to impeaching its full credit, the onus probandi lies on him who resists it. That it was competent for the appellee to show in this case, that these judgments were not conclusive, that they could not bind,, until execution was we have no doubt; but we are also satisfied, that it lay on him to do so, by producing or proving the law by which these proceedings were created.

The generai rule is, that a'l payments tfon^a judgmentare good without executl°n. Attachments pending, furmsb S?oil p)ea jn abate. tae'ive special matia evifleNe’can" as in-any more might have been special-Pleaded in A general ^rsonal^and as at large & fully by rhere0f annexed, is re-an(i thin^except is contained in the Acknowledgof an assisnt>r’in relation to a h^trinsfers^3 it, maybe8 given in controvert betweerTThe assignee and the party a theclaim i»ted.

[351]*351We admit the authorities cited at bar, and that they conclusively show that payment in obedience to a foreign attachment in England, could not be pleaded in bar to an action for the demand attached, unless such payment was made in obedience to execution also, and the reason seems to be, that after the emanation of ex-ecution, the plaintiff, before he completed it, was bound to give pledges to his original debtor to pay him\the money, if he should appear in a certain time, and prove the debt. As this engagement was for the benefit of the original debtor, it is but reasonable to pel his debtor to stand out until such security is given, or to deprive him of the bar. Such appears to been the decision of the supreme court of New York, with regard to an attachment in the state of 5 John. Rep. 101. Such, also is the doctrine of cellor Kent, 4 John. Chan. Rep. 460. The supreme court of Pennsylvania, in Myers vs. Urich, 1 Binney 25, has decided the same way with regard to one of her own attachments. But we cannot see that the decision plies to the law under which these proceedings were and from the reports and elementary writers of that state, it seems they have more laws than one on the ject of attachments. If the appellee shall produce a law which suits these proceedings, and which shows they are not conclusive without execution, we mayT then be able to fix a construction thereon, which shall these judgments no more weight than that for which he contends, or to adopt the decision of the courts of that state in his favor.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 Ky. 349, 5 Litt. 349, 1824 Ky. LEXIS 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-trotter-tilford-v-coleman-kyctapp-1824.