Harris v. Pullman

Citations

• 84 Ill. 20

Syllabus

<p>1. Courts of equity—jurisdiction. Ordinarily, a court of equity having personal jurisdiction of the defendant will, in case of fraud, of trust or of contract, grant relief, although lands not within the jurisdiction of the court shall be affected by the decree, upon the principle that, in equity, the primary decree is in personam and not inrem; still in such cases relief will not be granted, unless that sought is of such a nature as the court is capable of administering in the particular case, for a court of equity has not, necessarily, jurisdiction over a subject of ordinary equity cognizance, simply because the parties are within the former.</p> <p>2. Decebe—can only bindpraperty icithin jurisdiction of the court, not person, not msvwA with processi A decree rendered against parties who are heyond the limits of the State, upon constructive notice by publication under our statute, can only affect property within the jurisdiction of the court. The person can not be bound, unless it has been reached by the process of the court, and, as the decree can not operate extra-territorially, it is impossible that it can bind property thus located.</p> <p>3. A court of equity in this State, which has jurisdiction of a portion of the defendants, only, the other defendants being residents of another State, and not personalty within the jurisdiction of the court, can not grant relief as to property held by such non-resident defendants in the State where they reside.</p> <p>4. Jurisdiction—should not be entertained unless complete justice can be done. A court whose decree will leave a party in peril of being subjected to another and, may be, directly opposite decree or judgment in regard to the same property, in a different jurisdiction, is not in a condition to do complete justice in the case, and should, therefore, decline to entertain jurisdiction.</p> <p>5. Where the record show's that the property which is the subject matter of a suit in equity in this State is situated in