Huntington v. Attrill

Citations

• 146 U.S. 657
• 13 S. Ct. 224
• 36 L. Ed. 1123
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 2224

Syllabus

<p>A bill in equity in one State to set aside a conveyance of property made in fraud of creditors, aiyl to charge it' with' the payment of- a judgment since recovered by the plaintiff against the debtor in another State upon his liability as aji officer in a corporation under a statute of that State, set forth the judgment and the cause of action on which it was recovered; and' also asserted, independently of the judgment, an original-liability of the defendant as a stockholder and officer in that corporation before the conveyance. The highest court of the State declined to entertain the bill by virtue of the. judgment, because it had been recovered in another State in an action for a penalty; or to maintain the bill on the original liability, for various reasons. Held, that the question whether due faith and credit were thefeby denied to the judgment was a Federal question, of which this court had- jurisdiction on writ of error.</p> <p>The question whether a statute of one State, which in some aspects may be called penal, is a penal law in the international sense, so that it cannot be .enforced in the courts of another State, depends upon the question whether' its purpose is to punish an offence against the public justice of the. State,' or to afford a private remedy to a person injured by the wrongful act;</p> <p>A statute making the Officers of a corporation, who sign and record a false certificate of'the amount of its capital stock, liable, for all its debts, is not a penal law in the international sense.</p> <p>Whether a statute of one State is a penal law which cannot be enforced in another State is to be determined by the court which is called upon to enforce it.</p> <p>If the highest court of a State-declines to gire full faith and credit to a judgment of another State, because in its opinion that judgment was for a penalty, this court, in determining whether full faith and credit have been given to that judgment, must decide for itself whether the original