Opinion of the Court.

308 U.S.

rule against a citizen suing a state embodied in the Eleventh Amendment.18

Without analyzing all the pleadings, a short answer against the petitioner's contention is the fact that neither the receiver nor the judge is enjoined by the final decree. Pelkes' administrator and Miss Treinies are enjoined from further prosecution of the Washington action to quiet title. They are the parties whose individual rights to the stock are settled in this action. The State of Washington has no interest and no infringement of the Eleventh Amendment occurs.

Neither are the provisions of § 265 of the Judicial Code applicable. That section forbids a United States court from staying proceedings in any state court. The Interpleader Act, passed subsequently, however, authorizes the enjoining of parties to the interpleader from further prosecuting any suit in any state or United States court on account of the property involved. Such authority is essential to the protection of the interpleader jurisdiction and is a valid exercise of the judicial power. Section 265 is a mere limitation upon the general equity powers of the United States courts and may be varied by Congress to meet the requirements of federal litigation.'

19

Res Judicata of the Idaho Decree.-On the merits, petitioner's objection to the decree below is that it fails to consider and give effect to the Washington judgment of May 31, 1935, awarding the property in question to Pelkes, petitioner's assignor. It is petitioner's claim that the Washington judgment must be considered as effective in this litigation because the question of the jurisdiction of the Washington court was actually litigated before

18 Worcester County Trust Co. v. Riley, 302 U. S. 292, 296, is relied upon.

19 Smith v. Apple, 264 U. S. 274, 278; Dugas v. American Surety Co., 300 U. S. 414, 428.

66

Opinion of the Court.

the Supreme Court of Washington and determined favorably to petitioner by the refusal to grant a writ of prohibition against the exercise of jurisdiction by the Washington Superior Court in probate. This failure to give effect to the judgment is said to infringe the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution. The decree of the Court of Appeals is based upon the doctrine of res judicata. The applicability of that doctrine arises from a determination of pertinent matters by the Supreme Court of Idaho. Accordingly we turn to a discussion of whether or not the issues tendered below by petitioner were foreclosed by the decision of the Supreme Court of Idaho of July 23, 1936.

The issues tendered by petitioner in the trial court in this interpleader proceeding were (1) the invalidity of the Idaho decree, and (2) the conclusiveness of the Washington decree of May 31, 1935, awarding the property to Pelkes. Both of these issues rest on petitioner's contention that complete jurisdiction of the probate of Mrs. Pelkes' estate was in the Superior Court of Washington, that the stock was at all times a part of that estate, and that therefore that court's jurisdiction over the disposition of the stock was exclusive of all other courts.

The Idaho decree was pleaded in this proceeding as res judicata of the controversy between petitioner and respondent. The proceedings in Idaho showed a cause of action based on an alleged oral agreement of Pelkes, made in Idaho at the time of distribution of Mrs. Pelkes' estate, to hold the Sunshine Mining Company stock in trust for the joint benefit of himself and Mrs. Mason. All parties, including this petitioner, were before the court and a decree was entered sustaining the trust and awarding the stock and dividends, as claimed, to respondent, Mrs. Mason, with directions to the Mining Company to recognize the assignment of the certificates and adjudging a re

Opinion of the Court.

308 U.S.

covery for prior dividends against Pelkes and petitioner. The Idaho court was a court of general jurisdiction.20

The Court of Appeals held that the Idaho suit settled that the stock was distributed in 1923 and that therefore the Idaho court had jurisdiction to determine rights under the alleged oral trust. It was further of the view that the Idaho court's invalidation of the Washington judgment and its decree upholding Mrs. Mason's claim to the disputed property were res judicata in this action. Petitioner's only ground for objection to the conclusion that the Idaho decree is res judicata rests on the argument that by such ruling below the "judgment of the courts of the State of Washington affecting the same subject matter and parties" is ignored.

In the Idaho proceeding the Washington judgment awarding the stock and dividends to Pelkes was pleaded in bar to Mrs. Mason's suit to recover the stock. The effectiveness of the Washington judgment as a bar depended upon whether the court which rendered it had jurisdiction, after an order of distribution, to deal with settlements of distributees with respect to the assets of an estate. On consideration it was determined in the Idaho proceeding that the Washington court did not have this jurisdiction and that the stock of the Mining Company became the property of Mrs. Mason. In declining to give effect to the Washington decree for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, the Idaho court determined also the basic question raised by petitioner in the interpleader action. The contention of petitioner in the interpleader proceedings that the Idaho court did not have jurisdiction of the stock controversy because that controversy was in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Washington probate court must fall, because of the Idaho decision that the Washington probate court did not have

20 Constitution of Idaho, Art. 5, § 20; Idaho Code, 1932, § 1-705.

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Opinion of the Court.

exclusive jurisdiction. This is true even though the question of the Washington jurisdiction had been actually litigated and decided in favor of Pelkes in the Washington proceedings. If decided erroneously in the Idaho proceedings, the right to review that error was in those (the Idaho) proceedings. While petitioner sought review from the decree of the Supreme Court of Idaho by petition for certiorari to this Court, which was denied, no review was sought from the final decree of the Idaho District Court of August 18, 1936, on new findings of fact and conclusions of law on remittitur from the Supreme Court of Idaho.21

"It is unnecessary to consider whether the Idaho determination as to the jurisdiction of the Washington court was properly made. As the procedure by which a state court examines into the question of the jurisdiction of the court of a sister state is a matter within the control of the respective states (Adam v. Saenger, 303 U. S. 59, 63), it need only be added that such procedure is subject to question only on direct appeal.

It was stipulated by all parties to the Idaho cause that the Idaho courts might take judicial notice of the statutes and decisions of Washington. Some constitutional and statutory provisions relating to the jurisdiction of the Superior Court were pleaded and admitted. It has long been the rule in Idaho that its courts do not take judicial notice of the laws of another state and that without allegation and evidence it will be assumed the laws are the same as those of Idaho. (Maloney v. Winston Bros. Co., 18 Idaho 740, 757, 762; 111 P. 1080, 1086; Douglas v. Douglas, 22 Idaho 336, 343; 125 P. 796; Mechanics & Metals Nat. Bank v. Pingree, 40 Idaho 118, 129; 232 P. 5; State v. Martinez, 43 Idaho 180, 192; 59 P. 2d 1087; Kleinschmidt v. Scribner, 54 Idaho 185, 189; 30 P. 2d 362). While none of these cases involved a stipulation, the decision of the Supreme Court of Idaho (57 Idaho 10; 59 P. 2d 1087) declares the law of that jurisdiction. It follows from the Idaho court's refusal to look into the statutes of Washington that the jurisdiction of the Washington court was presumed to be governed by Idaho law. Under proper proof, the Idaho court would have been compelled to examine the jurisdiction of the Washington court under Washington law.

Opinion of the Court.

308 U.S.

The Court of Appeals correctly determined that the issue of jurisdiction vel non of the Washington court could not be relitigated in this interpleader. As the Idaho District Court was a court of general jurisdiction, its conclusions are unassailable collaterally except for fraud or lack of jurisdiction. The holding by the Idaho court of no jurisdiction in Washington necessarily determined the question raised here as to the Idaho jurisdiction against Miss Treinies' contention. She is bound by that judgment.

22

The power of the Idaho court to examine into the jurisdiction of the Washington court is beyond question. Even where the decision against the validity of the original judgment is erroneous, it is a valid exercise of judicial power by the second court.28

One trial of an issue is enough." "The principles of res judicata apply to questions of jurisdiction as well as to other issues," 25 as well to jurisdiction of the subject matter as of the parties."

26

Decree affirmed.

MR. JUSTICE BUTLER took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

23

Old Wayne Life Assn. v. McDonough, 204 U. S. 8, 15; Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457, 468; Adam v. Saenger, 303 U. S. 59, 62.

23

Chicago Life Ins. Co. v. Cherry, 244 U. S. 25, 30; Stoll v. Gottlieb,

305 U. S. 165, 172; Roche v. McDonald, 275 U. S. 449, 454.

"Baldwin v. Traveling Men's Assn., 283 U. S. 522, 525.

25

26

American Surety Co. v. Baldwin, 287 U. S. 156, 166.

Stoll v. Gottlieb, supra, note 23, 172.

No decision or statute relative to the reëxamination of the decree or judgment of an Idaho court on a contested issue of jurisdiction has been found or called to our attention. It is concluded that the rule here expressed states too the law of Idaho.