Union National Bank v. Lamb (337 U.S. 38)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 16, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 337 U.S. 38 · 69 S. Ct. 911
- Decided
- May 16, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. Missouri has a statute which limits the life of a judgment to ten years.after its original rendition or Wn years after its revival. Missouri also provides that no judgment can be revived after ten years from its rendition. These provisions are applicable to all judgments whether rendered by a Missouri court or by any other court. Petitioner has a Colorado judgment against respondent; It was obtained in 1927 and revived in Colorado in 1945 on personal service upon respondent in Missouri. Suit was then brought in Missouri on the revived Colorado judgment. The Supreme Court of Missouri, though assuming that the judgment was valid in Colorado, refused to enforce it because the original judgment under. Missouri’s law could not have been revived in 1945. It held that the lex fori governs the limitations of actions and that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, Art. IV, § 1, did not require Missouri to recognize Colorado’s more lenient policy as respects revival of judgments. 358 Mo. 65, 213 S. W. 2d 416. 1. Petitioner sought to bring the case here by appeal. But we postponed the question of jurisdiction *to the merits. Certiorari, not appeal, is the route by which the question whether or not full faith and credit has been given a foreign judgment is brought here. Roche v. McDonald, 275 U. S. 449; Morris v.…
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