Allen v. Alleghany Co.

Citations

• 196 U.S. 458
• 25 S. Ct. 311
• 49 L. Ed. 551
• 1905 U.S. LEXIS 914

Syllabus

<p>The mere construction by a state court of a statute of another State and its operation elsewhere, without questioning its validity, does not necessarily involve, a Federal question, or deny to the statute the full faith and credit demanded by § 709, Rev. Stat., in order to give this court jurisdiction to review.</p> <p>The statutes of New York and Pennsylvania prohibit foreign corporations from doing business in those States respectively unless certain specified conditions are complied with. In an action in New Jersey the state court held that contracts made in New York and Pennsylvania by a corporation which had not complied with the statutes of either State were not ipso facto void and might be enforced in New Jersey. On writ of error Held? that</p> <p>The writ must be dismissed as the validity of the New York and Pennsylvania statutes was not denied .but the case turned only upon their construction and the effect to be given them in another State.</p> <p>Whether, aside from a Federal question, the courts of one State should have sustained • the action upon principles of comity between the States is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the. state court.</p>