Pennoyer v. Neff

Mr. Justice Field delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action to recover the possession of a tract of land, of the alleged value of $15,000, situated in the State of Oregon. The plaintiff asserts title to the premises by a patent of the United States issued to him in 1866, under the act of Congress of Sept. 27,1850, usually known as the Donation Law of Oregon. The defendant claims to have acquired the premises under a sheriff’s deed, made .upon a sale of the property on execution issued upon a judgment recovered against the plaintiff in one of-the circuit courts of the State. The case turns upon the validity of this judgment.

It appears from the record that the judgment was rendered in February, 1866, in favor of J. H. Mitchell, for less than $800, including costs, in an action brought by him upon a demand for services as an attorney; that, at the time the action was commenced and.' the judgment rendered, the defendant therein, the plaintiff here, was a non-resident of the State; [*720] that he' was not personally served with prooess, and did not appear therein; and that the. judgment'was entered-.upon his default in not answering the complaint, upon a constructive service of summons by publication. ■ • The Code- of Oregon provides for such service when an. action is brought against a non-resident and absent defendant, who has property within the State. It also provides,, where the action is for the recovery of money or damages, for the attachment of the property of the non-resident. And it also declares that.no natural. person is subject-to the jurisdiction of a court of the State, “unless he appear in the court, or be found within the State, or be a resident thereof, or have property therein; and, in the last case, only to the extent of such property at the timé the jurisdiction attached.” ' Construing this latter provision to mean, that, in an action for money or damages where a defendant .does not appear in the court, and is not found" within the State, and is not a resident thereof, but has property therein, the jurisdiction of the court extends only over Such property, the declaration expresses a principle of general, if,, not universal,law. The authority of every tribunal is, necessarily restricted by the territorial limits of' the State in which jit is established; Any attempt to exercise authority •beyond .those limits would be deemed in every other forum, as has been,said by this court, an illegitimate assumption of power, and be resisted as mere abuse. D'Arcy v. Ketchum et al., 11 How. 165. In the case against the plaintiff, the property here in controversy sold under the judgment rendered was not attached, nor in any way brought under the jurisdiction of the court. Its first connection with the. case was'caused,by a levy of the execution. It was not, therefore, disposed of. pursuant to any adjudication, but only in enforcement of a personal judgment, having-no relation to the property,'rendered against a non-resident without service of process upon him in the action, or his appearance therein. The court below did not consider that an attachment of the property was essential to its jurisdiction or- to the validity of the sale, but held .that the judgment was invalid from defects' in the affidavit upon which the order of publication was obtained, and in the affidavit by which the publication "as proved.