William Howard Taft

“ This court said:
'The foundation of jurisdiction is physical power, although in civilized times it is not necessary to maintain that power throughout proceedings properly begun, and although submission to the jurisdiction by appearance may take the place of service upon the person. * * * No dubt there may be some extension of the means of acquiring jurisdiction beyond service or appearance, but the foundation should be borne in mind. Subject to its conception of sovereignty even the common law required a judgment not to be contrary to natural justice. ”

“ Even in cases of nonresident corporations, it has been held that a statute directing service upon them by leaving process with a state official is void if it contains no provision requiring the official, upon whom the service may be made, to give the foreign corporations notice that suit has been brought and citation served. ”

“ Section 3 provides that it shall be lawful to serve civil process upon a nonresident owner in such case upon any chauffeur or operator of the vehicle while the vehicle is being operated within the state by such chauffeur or operator, and that such service may be lawfully served upon any nonresident owner by serving the process upon any person over the age of 14 years who has custody of the authomobile, whether held by him as security or driven, provided, however, that a copy of such civil process also shall be posted in a conspicuous place upon such automobile. ”

“ Their knowledge of the statutory requirement may perhaps prompt frequent inquiry as to suits against them, of their appointed agent or at the office of the public official to be served, but it could hardly be fair or reasonable to require a nonresident individual owner of a motor vehicle who may use the state highways to make constant inquiry of the secretary of state to learn whether he has been sued. ”

“ The cases, in which statutes have been upheld providing that nonresident corporations may properly be served by leaving a summons with a state official, where the corporation has not indicated a resident agent to be served, are not especially applicable to the present statute. ”

“ New Jersey, the service provided for by statute was by mail to the necessarily known registered address of the licensed defendant.
In determining the reasonableness of provision for service we should consider the situation of both parties. The person injured must find out to whom the offending automobile belongs. This may be a difficult task. It is easy when the operator of the automobile is present after the accident. ”

“ That is provided for in the second section of this act by apprehending him or his operator. But the vehicle may be operated by some one who having committed the injury successfully escapes capture or identification. In such a case, the person injured must be left without a remedy by suit at law, as every one must be who does not know or cannot discover the person who injured him. The burden is necessarily on him to investigate and learn. ”