by John Marshall Harlan

“ We content ourselves with saying that the rule established by the general concurrence of the American and English courts is, that where the delay in rendering a judgment or a decree arises from the act of the court, that is, where the delay has been caused either for its convenience, or by the multiplicity or press of business, either the intricacy of the questions involved, or of any other cause not attributable to the laches of the parties, the judgment or the decree may be entered retrospectively, as of a time when it should or might have been entered up. ”

“ But it is clear that they do not provide for a case like the one before us. The question here is, whether the State court was wholly without jurisdiction to enter the decree against Mitchell as of, or make it take effect from, the last day of the term at which the cause, during the lifetime of Stutzman, was finally submitted for determination. We are not informed by any decision, to which our attention has been called, that the Supreme Court of Iowa has passed upon it. The cases cited from that court do not, in our opinion, meet it in the exact form in which it is here presented. ”

“ It is, however, found by the court below, to which this cause was submitted upon a written stipulation, waiving a jury, that there was no fraud in obtaining the decree.
Upon the decree, Overman, administrator of Stutzman, on the 15th of September, 1873, commenced this action against Mitchell. A recovery is resisted on the ground that the decree is absolutely void, inasmuch as it was in fact rendered after the death of Stutzman. Judgment was rendered against Mitchell for the full amount of the decree. ”