Roller v. Holly

Syllabus

<p>A state statute authorizing service of process by publication or otherwise upon absent and non-resident defendants, has no application to suits in personam; but is a sufficient authority for the institution of suits in rem, where, under recognized principles of law, such suits may be instituted against non-resident defendants.</p> <p>Where a statute specifies certain classes of cases which may be brought against non-residents, such specification operates as a restriction and limitation upon the power of the court; but where the power is a general one it is, as respects suits in rem, subject to no limitation.</p> <p>Where service of process was made upon a defendant residing in Virginia, requiring him to appear and answer a suit in Texas within five days, it is held that such notice was not a reasonable one, was not “ due process of law ” within the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and that a judgment obtained upon such notice was not binding upon the defendant.</p>