The jurisdiction of inferior Courts must be proved, it is never presumed. Jurisdictional facts are not required to be proved by Justices of the Peace. Whenever it appears that, as a matter of fact, there was a want of jurisdiction, the judgment will be void in whatever Court it was rendered, and such fact may be established by parol. (Bloom v. Burdick, 1 Hill, 131; 4 Hawkins, 283; 1 Cowen's Treat. 447; Cow. and Hill's notes to Phillips' Ev. 987, 1016, 1020; 19 Johns. 40; Malone v. Clark, 2 Hill, 657 .)
The case relied upon by counsel for respondent, is a case where it was, by statute, made the duty of the Commissioners of Insolvents, first, to have positive evidence and determine the jurisdictional fact, that two thirds of the creditors in amount of the insolvent, had signed his petition, before the Commissioner could take jurisdiction of the subject matter.
Justices' Courts are not required to find the jurisdictional fact necessary to confer jurisdiction.
JUDGES: Cope, J. delivered the opinion of the Court. Field, C. J. and Baldwin, J. concurring.
OPINION
COPE, Judge
This is an action of ejectment, and the questions in the case arise upon objections to the validity of a Justice's judgment. It is claimed that the judgment is void for want of jurisdiction of the person of the defendant, it appearing that he was not a resident of the township in which the suit was instituted, but resided in a different township of the same county. The summons was served in the township in which the suit was commenced, and a certificate to that effect was indorsed upon the summons by the officer who made the service, and filed with the Justice. This certificate constitutes a portion of the record, and is sufficient, prima facie, to establish the jurisdiction. The Justice having acted upon it, the judgment cannot be collaterally impeached. The objection should have been taken at the trial, and as the defendant failed to appear, the judgment is conclusive. In the case of Lowe v. Alexander, decided at the April term, there was no evidence of the jurisdiction in the record, and the decision proceeded entirely upon that ground.
Judgment affirmed.