Statement of the case.

The record of the judgment and proceedings in the United States Circuit Court, together with the execution and sheriff's deed to Dupasseur, and also the original act of mortgage on which the proceedings were founded, were given in evidence. From these it appeared that Sauvé purchased the plantation in question from one Jacobs, in June, 1852; that he paid part cash, and secured the balance by five notes payable respectively in one, two, three, four, and five years, and that the payment of the notes was secured by a reservation of the vendor's lien in the act of sale by way of special mortgage, with a covenant not to alien, &c., which act was duly recorded as a special mortgage in the proper office in 1852, but was not reinscribed within ten years, and not until 1865; it being alleged, and proof being offered to show, that it was impossible, on account of the prevalence of the war, to have the reinscription made within the proper time. The last note of $29,000 was not paid, and suit was brought upon it against Sauvé by Jacobs, the then holder, in October, 1858, in the Third Judicial District Court of Louisiana for Jefferson Parish, and on the 21st of November, 1859, judgment was rendered for the amount, recognizing priority of the mortgage on the plantation, and an order made for paying the money into court. On the 5th of April, 1861, Sauvé borrowed $37,011 of Dupasseur, the defendant, to pay this judgment, and gave him a new note for that amount, and Dupasseur was, by a notarial act, subrogated to the rights of Jacobs in the judgment and mortgage.

On the 1st of December, 1863, Dupasseur & Co., citizens of France, in right of Dupasseur, filed a petition in the Circuit Court of the United States for a sequestration of the crops, that Sauvé might be cited to appear and answer, and for judgment for $37,011 (the amount of the previous judgment), with interest and costs, to be paid by right of special mortgage and with vendor's lien and privilege, before all other creditors, and for sale, &c. No one was made a party to this suit except Pierre Sauré. On the 23d of February, 1865, judgment was rendered in this case, to the effect that Dupasseur recover from Sauvé the amount sued for, with ven

Statement of the case.

dor's lien and privilege upon the plantation in question; and an execution was issued thereou, by virtue of which the marshal, on the 5th of May, 1866, sold the property to Dupasseur for $64,151, being $15,046 more than sufficient to satisfy his claim. The balance was paid to the marshal, and by him paid into the Circuit Court of the United States, to be disposed of according to law.

In the suit first abovementioned-the one brought in the Sixth District Court of New Orleans by Rochereau against Dupasseur, and to which Dupasseur set up the defence just abovementioned-judgment was finally given for Rochereau on the 28th of January, 1868, and was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Louisiana on the 28th of April, 1868. The judgment of the Supreme Court was now brought here by the present writ of error. Dupasseur, the now plaintiff' iu error, alleging as a ground of bringing the case here, that the State court decided against the validity of a judicial decision in his favor made by the Circuit Court of the United States on the very question at issue in this action, which decision was set up and relied on by him in his defence; and, therefore, that the case came within the terms of the second section of the act of February 5th, 1867* (section 709, Revised Statutes of the United States), replacing the twentyfifth section of the Judiciary Act,† which enacts among other things that a writ of error from this court will lie to the highest court of the State in which a decision in the suit could be had

"Where any title, right, privilege, or immunity is claimed under the Constitution, or any treaty or statute of or commission beld, or authority exercised under the United States, and the decision is against the title, right, privilege, or immunity specially set up or claimed under such Constitution, treaty, statute, commission or authority."

Two questions were thus raised by Dupasseur in this

court:

* 14 Stat. at Large, 385.

† See the section, 20 Wallace, 592, 593, right-hand column.

Opinion of the court.

1st. Whether this court had jurisdiction under the act of 1867, already mentioned, to hear the case?

2d. Did the State court refuse to give validity and effect to the judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States in favor of Dupasseur?

Mr. A. C. Story, for the plaintiff in error; Messrs. E. and A. C. Janin (with whom was Mr. Charles Andrew Johnson),

contra.

Mr. Justice BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court. Where a State court refuses to give effect to the judgment of a court of the United States rendered upon the point in dispute, and with jurisdiction of the case and the parties, a question is undoubtedly raised which, under the act of 1867, may be brought to this court for revision. The case would be one in which a title or right is claimed under an anthority exercised under the United States, and the decision is against the title or right so set up. It would thus be a case arising under the laws of the United States, establishing the Circuit Court and vesting it with jurisdiction; and hence it would be within the judicial power of the United States, as defined by the Constitution; and it is clearly within the chart of appellate power given to this court, over cases arising in and decided by the State courts.

The refusal by the courts of one State to give effect to the decisions of the courts of another State is an infringement of a different article of the Constitution, to wit, the first section of article four; and the right to bring such a case before us by writ of error under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act, or the act of 1867, is based on the refusal of the State court to give validity and effect to the right claimed under that article and section.

In either case, therefore, whether the validity or due effect ɔf a judgment of the State court, or that of a judgment of a United States court, is disallowed by a State court, the Constitution and laws furnish redress by a final appeal to this court.

Opinion of the court.

We cannot hesitate, therefore, as to our jurisdiction to hear the case.

The question then arises, did the Supreme Court of Louisiana in deciding against the claim of Dupasseur refuse, as the defendant charged, to give proper validity and effect to the judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States, and decide against such validity and effect?

The only effect that can be justly claimed for the judgment in the Circuit Court of the United States, is such as would belong to judgments of the State courts rendered under similar circumstances. Dupasseur & Co. were citizens of France, and brought the suit in the Circuit Court of the United States as such citizens; and, consequently, that court, deriving its jurisdiction solely from the citizenship of the parties, was in the exercise of jurisdiction to administer the laws of the State, and its proceedings were had in accordance with the forms and course of proceeding in the State courts. It is apparent, therefore, that no higher sanctity or effect can be claimed for the judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States rendered in such a case under such circumstances than is due to the judgments of the State courts in a like case and under similar circumstances. If by the laws of the State a judgment like that rendered by the Circuit Court would have had a biuding effect as against Rochereau, if it had been rendered in a State-court, then it should have the same effect, being rendered by the Circuit Court. If such effect is not conceded to it, but is refused, then due validity and effect are not given to it, and a case is made for the interposition of the power of reversal conferred upou this court.

We are bound to inquire, therefore, whether the judg ment of the Circuit Court thus brought in question would have had the effect of binding and concluding Rochereau if it had been rendered in a State court. We have examined this question with some care, and have come to the conclusion that it would not.

The same general rule of law and justice prevails in Louisiana as elsewhere, to the effect that no persons are bound

Opinion of the court.

by a judgment or decree except those who are parties to it, and have had an opportunity of presenting their rights. The only apparent exception to this rule in general, is the effect of a proceeding in rem, which from the necessity of the case is binding on all persons. This exception is only apparent, for indeed in that case all persons having any interest in the thing are deemed parties, and have the right to intervene pro interesse suo; and if after the lawful publications of notice have been made they fail to do so, they are considered as having acquiesced in the exercise of the jurisdiction. A further exception, in Louisiana, arises from the pact de non alienando in mortgages, which dispenses with the necessity of making subsequent grantees or mortgagees parties in a proceeding to enforce payment of the mortgage. They are to take notice at their peril.

In this case, Rochereau was not made a party to the suit of Dupasseur in the Circuit Court of the United States; and the only questions remaining, therefore, are whether that was a proceeding in rem, or whether Rochereau was a subsequent mortgagee to Dupasseur ?

The fact that a sequestration was issued does not make the proceeding one in rem, as that was a mere ancillary process for preserving the movables and crops on the mortgaged property from waste and spoliation. It did not, in the slightest degree, change the character of the suit. And, in truth, it was never executed, as the return of the marshal shows. The question then recurs as to the character of the suit itself. It was an action brought against Sauvé on the judgment obtained against him by Jacobs in the District Court for Jefferson Parish, which judgment had been, in effect, assigned to Dupasseur. The petition prayed, besides a sequestration of the crops, &c., that Sauvé might be cited to appear and answer; that judgment might be rendered in favor of the petitioner for the sum of $37,011.99,* and interest and costs to be paid by right of special mortgage and with vendor's lien and privilege upon the plantation, slaves,

*The amount of the previous judgment.