Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Whenever a wrong judgment is entered against a defendant, his property is taken when it should not have been; but whatever the ground may be, if the mistake is not so gross as to be impossible in a rational administration of justice, it is no more than the imperfection of man, not a denial of constitutional rights. The decision of the Illinois courts, right or wrong, was not such a denial. If the Tennessee judgment had been declared void in Illinois, this court might have been called upon to decide whether it had been given due faith and credit. ”

“ A court that renders judgment against a defendant thereby tacitly asserts, if it does not do so expressly, that it has jurisdiction over that defendant. But it must be taken to be established that a court cannot conclude all persons interested by its mere assertion of its own power (Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457, 21 L. ed. 897) , even where its power depends upon a fact and it finds the fact (Tilt v. Kelsey, 207 U.S. 43, 51, 52 L. ed. 95, 99, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1) . A divorce might be held void for want of jurisdiction although the libellee had appeared in the cause. ”

“ Rep. 70. But a decision upholding it upon the ground taken in the present case does not require us to review the Tennessee decision or to go further than we have gone. An objection that a copy of the document sued upon should have been filed with the declaration is a matter of state procedure, and not open here. ”