ant or its solicitors the amount of its costs and disbursements to be taxed herein; that he also pay to the complainant or its solicitors the amount due to it on said certificates as aforesaid, together with the interest thereon from the 1st day of January, 1886, and that he pay to the holders of the other said certificates respectively the amount of principal and interest due thereon, as the same may be found and reported by the said master as aforesaid; but if the moneys arising from such sale, after the payment of said costs and expenses as aforesaid, shall not be sufficient to pay the said certificates, with interest in full, then that the said referee pay and distribute the said moneys, after the payment of the fees, expenses, costs, and disbursements above mentioned, to the said certificate holders, including the complainant, pro rata, in proportion to the amount of principal and interest due to said certificate holders respectively; that the said referee bring the surplus moneys arising from the said sale, if any there shall be, into court within twenty days after the same be received, to be there subject to the order of the court; that the said referee make a report of such sale, and file the same with the clerk of this court with all convenient speed; that, if the proceeds of such sale be insufficient to pay the amount due to the complainant as aforesaid, with interest and costs as aforesaid, and also to pay the other certificate holders the amount due to them respectively, as may be ascertained by said master as aforesaid, the said referee specify the amount of such deficiency in his report of sale, and that the defendants Rowland N. Hazard and William Foster, Jr., pay to the complainant, and to the other of said certificate holders, the residue of the indebtedness on said certificates remaining unsatisfied after the sale of said property and the application of the proceeds pursuant to the directions contained herein; and that the complainant and the other of said certificate holders, to be ascertained as aforesaid, have execution thereof; and that the purchaser or purchasers at such sale be let into possession on the production of the said referee's deed and a certified copy of the order or decree confirming the said referee's report of sale.

"And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the defendants and all persons claiming under them, or any or either of them, after the filing of the notice of pendency of this suit, be forever barred and foreclosed of all right, title, interest, and equity of redemption in the said premises so sold, or any part thereof. The following is a description of the premises and property hereinbefore referred to and thereby directed to be sold, as contained in a certain mortgage made by the said the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company to the Union Trust Company, and which were conveyed by the deed executed by George McClellan, referee, to the defendants William Foster, Jr., and Rowland N. Hazard, referred to in the bill of complaint herein.

"[Description.]

"Leave is hereby reserved to the complaint and to the other certificate holders above referred to, or any of them, to apply upon the foot of this decree for the appointment of a receiver to take immediate possession of the property above described, and to keep the same until the sale under this decree shall be consummated by the delivery to the purchaser or purchasers at such sale of a referee's deed or deeds, and to deliver the property so sold to such purchaser or purchasers, with the powers usually possessed by receivers in such cases."

Subsequently, in pursuance of the decree, the holders of the certificates appeared before the special master, and made proof of their ownership thereof, and said master, on February 7, 1888, made a report accordingly, finding the names of the holders thereof and the amounts due them respectively.

a

On March 23, 1892, in pursuance of an order of sale made by the said circuit court of the United States, Worthington Frothingham, as referee, sold the said premises and property described in the complaint (and described in the deed of George McClellan, referee, to Foster and Hazard) to William Foster, Jr., for the sum of $7,500, and on April 25, 1892, executed and delivered deed therefor to the said William Foster, Jr. On December 8, 1890, Aaron R. Stevens, Harper W. Rogers, Nancy E. Wilbur, Andrew A. Douglas, as trustee under the will of W. H. Douglas, deceased, and Ida S. Harrison, for themselves and other holders and owners of bonds issued by the Lebanon Springs Company and the Harlem Extension Railroad Company, filed a petition or bill of complaint in the supreme court of New York against the Union Trust Company of New York; James C. Hull; William Butler Duncan; John G. McCullough, as administrator of the goods, chattels, and credits of Trevor W. Park, deceased; the New York, Boston & Montreal Railway Company; Jesse Seligman; John Crosby Brown; William Watts Sherman; Daniel Butterfield, as receiver of the property of the New York, Boston & Montreal Railway Company; Marvin Sackett; Russell C. Root; the Harlem Extension Railroad South Coal Transportation Company; the Central National Bank of Boston; Peter Butler, as receiver of the property of the Pacific National Bank of Boston; the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, and others.

In this petition there is a history of the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company and the Harlem Extension Railroad Company, and of the several legal proceedings whereby the roads, property, and franchises of these companies became vested in the New York, Rutland & Montreal Railway Company, which is substantially the same with that heretofore made in this statement. But the petition assailed the action brought*by* Sackett in 1880, and which resulted in the

sale to Foster and Hazard in 1885, as fraudulent and collusive, and alleged that "the suit by Sackett was brought and conducted, not with the intention of realizing the said property for the benefit of the bondholders, or any of them, or of himself as bondholder, but collusively, and with the intent that he and others should receive large sums of money from the said property under color of the payment of claims, which, even if valid, were subordinate to said mortgages, and with the intent that said railroad and property should be acquired by others free from the lien of said mortgages, and without realizing anything to the holders of said bond."

The petition further alleged that: "Afterwards the defendant the Central National Bank of Boston, claiming to own such certificates to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, stated at par of the principal of the same, brought an action in this court against the defendants Foster and Hazard, the New York, Rutland & Montreal Railway Company, and the American Loan & Trust Company; that in that action the plaintiff prayed for the sale of the said railroad and property for the satisfaction of the certificates; that said action was removed into the circuit court of the United States, and such proceedings have been had therein that a decree has passed whereby it is provided that the said railroad and property be sold by a master of that court for the payment of the said certificates."

The prayers for relief were as follows:

"(1) That it may be adjudged that the owners of the bonds issued by the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company have a first lien upon the said railroad and property, and the owners of the bonds issued by the Harlem Extension Railroad Company a second lien thereon, in preference of all others. That the bond and mortgage executed by the defendants Hull and Lincoln to the defendant Duncan and the said Park is held for the benefit of the owners of said bonds, and represents their interest solely, and that defendants Brown and Seligman redeliver the same.

"(2) That the judgment in the action brought in this court by the defendant the Union Trust Company, and the decrees in the two actions brought by that company in the court of chancery of Vermont, be now specifically enforced, and the mortgage by the said Hull and Lincoln be now foreclosed, and that the said railroad and property be sold under said judgments and decrees, and said mortgage of Hull and Lincoln, for the benefit of this plaintiff and all other of the owners of the Lebanon Springs and Harlem Extension bonds, and that all of the defendants in this action be barred and foreclosed of all right, title, interest, and equity of redemption of, in, and to the said railroad and property, and any part of the same.

were beyond the power of this court to issue, and are of no validity except to bind the interest represented by the eight bonds of the said Marvin Sackett, and the interests of the defendants in the action brought by said Sackett.

"(4) That all of the defendants in this action and all other persons be enjoined, as well temporarily by order as permanently by judgment, from interfering with any part of the said railroad or property.

"(5) That a receiver be appointed, with the usual powers of receivers, to take possession of, preserve, and operate said railroad and property until further order of the court.

“(6) That the plaintiffs have such other and further relief as to the court shall seem just, besides costs."

To this petition the Central National Bank of Boston filed its separate answer, in which, after admitting certain allegations in the petition, relative to the history of the railroad companies, the said defendant set forth the proceedings in the suit of Sackett, including the appointment of Van Valkenburgh as receiver, the authority given such receiver by the court to issue and negotiate the said certificates, and the purchase by the defendant of $250,000 of said certificates for full value. The answer further alleged, in response to the petition, that the suit was brought by Sackett for himself as bondholder and on behalf of all other bondholders; that other bond-• holders, representing all, or nearly all, the bonds issued by the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company, had knowledge of the pendency of said suit by Sackett, and were represented by attorneys and counsel, although not nominally made parties to the action; that Foster and Hazard became purchasers at the sale, and that, by the terms of the sale, they had assumed the payment of the unpaid portion of said certificates as part of the consideration of the purchase; and further alleged that said judgment of the supreme court of New York had never been appealed from. reversed, on in any way vacated or modified, and was binding and conclusive, not only upon the parties to said action, but upon the other holders of said bonds issued by the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company. The answer then proceeded to set forth proceedings in the circuit court of the United States, including the decree of March 24, 1887, and to pray, among other things, that the petition should be dismissed upon the merits, and that a decree may be rendered recognizing the rights of the defendant the Central National Bank of Boston as a holder of said certificates as such rights had been theretofore established by the decree of the circuit court of the United States.

pursued in behalf of all the bondholders; that they, Foster and Hazard, had purchased the railroad property and franchises in good faith, and that by the judgment, decree, and sale in said suit all the rights of said bondholders, plaintiffs in this suit, were cut off and barred, and that they, Foster and Hazard, had thereby acquired a good and valid title to said property and franchises; and thereupon they prayed that the complaint be dismissed, and that a decree be rendered establishing their rights as purchasers of said road under said judgment and decree.

this action, so brought by Foster, has been removed, on the petition of the Central Na tional Bank, to the circuit court of the United States for the Northern district of New York, where it is now pending.

Charles E. Patterson and W. S. B. Hop. kins, for plaintiffs in error. Edward Wins. low Paige, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS. after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiffs in error ask us to reverse the decree of the court of appeals affirming that of the supreme court of New York, because the action of Stevens and others, as a bill of review, or a bill in the nature of a bill of review, was not brought within the time limited by the practice of the courts for en

Upon the first trial of this action judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants, dismissing it on the merits. On appeal that judgment was reversed by the general term, and a new trial ordered. Stevens v. Union Trust Co., 57 Hun, 498, 11 N. Y. Supp. 268.

At the new trial judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs on November 10, 1891, and this judgment, having been affirmed by the general term, was taken on appeal to the court of appeals, whose judgment, rendered November 27, 1894, affirmed that of the court below. 144 N. Y. 50, 39 N. E. 68. This writ of error was then sued out.

Upon sale made by John L. Henning, as referee, under the judgment of the supreme court in this case, pending the appeals, there was executed and delivered to said William Foster, Jr., by said referee, a deed of conveyance of the railroad, property, and franchises, dated May 16, 1892; and, as already stated, on March 23, 1892, the railroad was sold and conveyed to William Foster, Jr., by the referee appointed by the decree of the United States court.

After the judgment of November 10, 1891, William Foster, Jr., brought an action in the supreme court of New York against the Central National Bank and other holders of certificates, seeking to set aside that portion of the decree of the United States circuit court of March 24, 1887, which adjudged that Foster, either alone or with Hazard, pay the Central Bank and other certificate holders the deficiency that might exist in the payment of the certificates after the applica. tion of the proceeds of the sale of the road, and to annul and enjoin the decree "that exe. cution issue for such deficiency; and that

of Civil Procedure of the state of New York, bills for review have no place for errors appearing upon the face of the record; that the only remedy for such errors is by appeal; that, in so far as it is contended that the decree in the Sackett case was obtained by a fraudulent assertion or suppression of facts, the party aggrieved must move promptly upon the discovery of the fraud or of new facts; that the bill and the evidence adduced to sustain it do not disclose such a case of fraud or of newly-discovered evidence, but do show a case free from actual fraud, and only, at the most, irregular by reason of a failure to include all the proper parties; that the parties complainant are to be visited with a knowledge of the proceedings in the Sackett suit by reason of the protracted and notorious character of the proceedings, and because knowledge of the proceedings in the Sackett suit must further be imputed to them, because they are represented in the effort to impugn the validity of that decree by counsel who had appeared for Sackett in his suit; and that hence the present suit should, on the well-established rules regulating bills of review and bills to impeach decrees on the ground of after-discovered evidence, have been dismissed.

Without expressing any opinion on such allegations of error, it is sufficient to say that they raised questions for the consideration of the court of appeals of the state of New York, and that the disposition made of them by that court is binding upon us.

But those assignments of error which allege that the judgment of the supreme court of the state of New York and of the court of appeals in affirming it erred in failing to give proper effect to the decree of the circuit court of the United States, and in granting a final injunction restraining the appellants from availing themselves of the provisions of such decree, certainly do present questions which are within our jurisdiction to consider.

Referring to the previous somewhat ex

tended statement of the facts, we may briefly recapitulate a few of the principal dates. In August, 1880, Marvin Sackett brought his suit in the supreme court of the state of New York, on behalf of himself and all other holders and owners of bonds of certain railroad companies, against Root, the Harlem Extension Railroad South Coal Transportation Company, the New York, Boston & Montreal Railway Company and David Butterfield, receiver of said company, praying for the appointment of a receiver, and for a sale of the railroad and franchises for the benefit of the bondholders. On October 11, 1880, a receiver was appointed and qualified.

On April 2, 1881, on petition of the receiver, and after a report by an expert disclosing the necessity for expenditure to make the road safe, and to enable trains to be run, an order was made by the court authorizing the receiver to issue and negotiate $350,000 in certificates, the same to be a first lien. The certificates were sold, and the proceeds expended under the approval of the court. On June 12, 1885, sale was made of the road, and deed delivered to Foster and Hazard for $155,000, subject to the payment of the unpaid portion of the principal and interest of the certificates.

On April 9, 1886, the Central National Bank of Boston brought suit in the supreme court of New York, on its own behalf and that of others as owners of the certificates, against Foster, Hazard, the New York, Rutland & Montreal Railway Company, and the American Loan & Trust Company. On March 24, 1887, the suit having been transferred on the petition of the defendants to the circuit court of the United States, after full hearing and argument the latter court rendered a final decree establishing the rights of the Central National Bank of Boston and of others as owners of said certificates, declaring the latter to be a first lien, and decreeing that Foster and Hazard were liable for any deficiency if sale should fail to realize enough to pay certificates. On March 23, 1892, sale under said decree to Foster for $7,500, and on April 25, 1892, deed of conveyance by referee to Foster. On December 8, 1899, Stevens and others brought their suit in the supreme court of New York against the Central National Bank of Boston, the other holders of certificates. Foster, Hazard, and others, to set aside decree in case of Sackett and to enjoin proceedings in the circuit court of the United States. On November 11, 1891, judgment setting aside sale in the case of Sackett, and finally enjoining the Central National Bank of Boston and others, plaintiffs in the circuit court of the United States, from selling under the decree of the federal court.

On May 16, 1892, sale and conveyance were made by referee under the decree in the present suit to Foster. On May 9, 1893, judgment of the general term, and November 27, 1894, judgment of the court of ap

peals, was rendered, affirming the judgment of the supreme court.

It will be perceived, on an inspection of these dates, that when the present suit was brought a final judgment had been rendered in the circuit court of the United States, establishing the title and rights of the holders of the certificates, directing a sale by a referee, and adjudging the personal liability of Foster and Hazard for an unpaid portion of said certificates after the application of the proceeds of sale; that when the judg- 00 ment of the supreme court was entered in the present case, and without awaiting the result of the appeal to the court of appeals, a sale was had, in which Foster became the purchaser on a bid of $7,500; and that Foster was likewise the purchaser at the sale on the decree of the circuit court.

The record does not disclose what application was made of the purchase money paid by Foster on his respective purchases at the two sales, but it may be easily conjectured that, after the payment of the costs and of the expenses of the sales, little or nothing would be left applicable to the bonds and certificates. Thus the singular result, thus far reached, of this protracted and expensive litigation, is that Foster, who had, with Hazard, been the purchaser at the Sackett sale, has become the owner of the railroad upon the payment of a merely nominal sum, and that the bondholders and the owners of the certificates have realized nothing. And it further thus appears that ever since May 16, 1892, the controversy has really been between the holders of the receiver's certificates and Foster, who has, for a trifling sum, become the owner of the railroad as improved by money procured by the sale of the certificates.

It may be that Foster, when he bought under the decree of sale in the present suit, did so in pursuance of some arrangement with the bondholders, and as their trustee. But whether Foster, when he bought under the decree of the circuit court of the United States, subjected himself to that feature of the decree that made him personally liable for the unpaid portion of the certificates, and precluded himself from relying on the decree of the supreme court of New York setting aside the Sackett sale; and whether the setting aside the sale in the Sackett suit would invalidate receiver's certificates issued years before, and whose proceeds had gone into the improvement of the property; and whether, in case of Foster's inability to respond to his personal obligation, the unpaid portion of the certificates would be a lien on the railroad in his hands and those of his vendees.-are questions for the circuit court of the United States, which cannot be withdrawn from its determination by the subsequent proceedings in the supreme court of New York. Any confusion that might otherwise have arisen by reason of conflicting views between the federal and state

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courts has been prevented by the fact that Foster, who himself originally invoked the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States, has become the purchaser of the railroad under the decrees of both courts, whereby the only substantial controversy that remains is between him, as such purchaser, and the holders of the certificates.

Those portions of the decree of the supreme court of New York and of the court of appeals which sought to compel the complainants in the suit pending in the circuit court of the United States to come into the state court, and to there relitigate their titles to the certificates, and the amounts thereof, and which sought to restrain them by injunction from proceeding under the final decree of sale of the circuit court, and from enforcing the other remedies adjudged to them by that decree, were, in our opinion, erroneous. Due effect was not thereby given to the judgment or decree of the circuit court, at least in so far as that decree had established the ownership and amounts of the certificates; and the injunction was plain interference with the proceedings in another court which had full and complete jurisdiction over the parties and the subjectmatter of the suit, and which jurisdiction had attached long before the suit in the supreme court had been begun.

It will suffice to cite a few of the cases: "It is a doctrine of law too long established to require a citation of authorities that, where a court has jurisdiction, it has a right to decide every question which occurs in the cause, and, whether its decision be correct or otherwise, its judgment, till reversed, is regarded as binding in every other court; and that, where the jurisdiction of a court and the right of a plaintiff to prosecute his suit in it have once attached, that right cannot be arrested or taken away by proceedings in another court. These rules have their foundation, not merely in comity, but on necessity. For, if one may enjoin, the other may retort by injunction, and thus the parties be without remedy; being liable to a process for contempt in one if they dare to proceed in the other. Neither can one take property from the custody of the other by replevin or any other process, for this would produce a conflict exceedingly *embarrassing to the administration of justice. In the case of Kennedy v. Earl of Cassilis, Lord Eldon at one time granted an injunction to restrain a party from proceeding in a suit pending in the court of sessions of Scotland, which, on more mature reflection, he dissolved, because it was admitted, if the court of chancery could in that way restrain proceedings in an independent foreign tribunal, the court of sessions might equally enjoin the parties from proceeding in chancery, and thus they would be unable to proceed in either court. The fact, therefore, that an injunction issues only to the parties before the court, and not to the court, is no evasion

of the difficulties that are the necessary result of an attempt to exercise that power over a party who is a litigant in another and independent forum." Peck v. Jenness, per Mr. Justice Grier, 7 How. 612, 624.

"State courts are exempt from all interference by the federal tribunals, but they are destitute of all power to restrain either the process or proceedings in the national courts. Circuit courts and state courts act separately and independently of each other, and in their respective spheres of action the process issued by the one is as far beyond the reach of the other as if the line of division between them was traced by landmarks and monuments visible to the eye. Appellate relations exist in a

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class of cases between the state courts and this court, but there are no such relations between the state courts and the circuit courts. ed in any light, therefore, it is obvious that the injunction of a state court is inoperative to control, or in any manner to affect, the process or proceedings of a circuit court; not on account of any paramount jurisdiction in the latter courts, but because in their sphere of action circuit courts are wholly independent of the state tribunals." Riggs v. Johnson Co., 6 Wall. 166.

Whether due effect has been given by a state court to a judgment or decree of a court of the United States is a federal question within the jurisdiction of this court, on a writ of error to the supreme court of the state. Crescent City Live-Stock Co. v. Butchers' Union Slaughter-House Co., 120 U. S. 141, 7 Sup. Ct. 472.

The exemption of the authority of the courts) of the United States from interference by legislative or judicial action of the states is essential to their independence and efficiency. Freeman v. Howe, 24 How. 450; Buck v. Colbath, 3 Wall. 334; Railroad Co. v. Gomila, 132 U. S. 478, 10 Sup. Ct. 155.

In 2 Story, Eq. Jur. § 900, it is said, referring to the power sometimes exercised by courts of equity, to restrain parties within their jurisdiction from proceeding in foreign courts: "There is one exception to this doctrine, which has long been recognized in America, and that is that state courts cannot enjoin proceedings in the courts of the United States, nor the latter in the former courts."

It is contended by the counsel for the defendants in error, in a supplemental brief, that these principles, so long and so well settled, have been modified by some recent decisions of this court, and the cases of Moran v. Sturges, 154 U. S. 256, 14 Sup. Ct. 1019, and of Shields v. Coleman, 157 U. S. 168, 15 Sup. Ct. 570, are cited in support of that contention. Such a

conception of the import of those cases must have been formed from a hasty reading, for they are in perfect harmony with the previous cases, and, indeed, may properly be cited to sustain the reasoning upon which those cases proceeded.

In Moran v. Sturges, the chief justice, deliver ing the opinion of the court, cited the cases hereinbefore referred to, and others, and stated