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be admitted, to prove, that another person was appointed executor, or that the testator was insane (4): that would be to falsify, the proceedings of the ordinary in cases where he is exclusive judge. The probate of a will, devising real property, is not evidence of the contents of the will (5), even though the original is proved to be lost (6); the spiritual court having no power to authenticate such a devise, as far it relates to land.

It appears then, that the sentence of an ecclesiastical court, directly upon a point within its peculiar jurisdiction, is conclusive on the same matter, coming incidentally into question in a civil case in another court. But although the law stands thus with regard to eivil suits, proceedings in matters of crime, and especially of felony, fall under a different consideration (7); first, because the parties are not the same, for the king, (in whom the trust of prosecuting public offences is vested, a trust executed by his immediate orders, or in his name by some prosecutor,) is not a party to such proceedings in the ecclesiastical court, and cannot be admitted to defend, examine witnesses, or in any *manner intervene or appeal: secondly, such doctrine would tend to give the spiritual courts, which are not permitted to exercise any judicial cognizance in matters of crime, an immediate influence in trials for offences, and to draw the decision from the course of common law, to which it solely and peculiarly belongs. The case of the King v. Vincent (1), therefore, (where the probate of a will is said to bave been admitted as conclusive evidence of its validity, on an indictment for the forgery of the same will,) has been frequently much questioned, and at length expressly overruled (2).

For the same reason, a sentence in a spiritual court on the question of marriage will not preclude inquiry on a cri

(4) 1 Lev. 236.

(5) Bull. N. P. 245.

(6) Doe d. Ash v. Calvert, 2 Campb. 389. Hoe v. Nathrop, 1 Ld. Ray, 154. St. Leger v. Adams, ib. 731. Dike v. Polhill, ib. 744.

(7) 11 St. Tr. 261.
(1) 1 Str. 481.

(2) R. v. Gibson, Lanc. Sum. Ass. 1802, before Ld. Ellenborough, C. J. stated by Mr. Evans in the 2d vol, of his edition of Pothier, p. 356.

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minal charge of polygamy; unless it is made to have such an effect by an express provision of the legislature. Now, by the statute of 1 J. 1. c. 11. which makes polygamy a felonious offence, and for the trial of this offence necessarily gives to the temporal courts a cognizance of the lawfulness of marriage, it is provided that the act shall not extend to any persons divorced by a sentence in the ecclesiastical court, nor to any persons where the former marriage has been by the ecclesiastical court declared null and void (a).” There are two cases, then, put by the statute, in which the sentence of the ecclesiastical court will protect against the criminal inquiry; namely, sentence of divorce and sentence of nullity of marriage (3). But the statute makes no exception in favour of a sentence in a cause of jactitation : and as such a sentence is not conclusive even in the court where it was delivered, and declares not directly but only collaterally the invalidity of marriage, it has been adjudged not to be a bar to a criminal prosecution (4).

It has been before mentioned, that judgments and sentences of courts of justice, or any other judicial act, may *be impeached by evidence of fraud or collusion. And such evidence was adjudged to be admissible, on the part of the prosecution, in the case of the Duchess of Kingston, who was tried for polygamy. A distinction, in this respect, has been made between the case of a stranger, (who cannot (3) 1 East P. Č. 467.

(4) Duchess of Kingston's case, 11 St. Tr. 260.

(a) The statute of the state of New-York has a like exception of persons who shall be at the time of the second marriage divorced by the sentence or decrée of any court having cognizance thereof, and where the former marriage has been by the sentence or decree of any such court, declared to be void and of no effect. Sess. 11. c. 24. 1 R. L. 113. Hence, according to the principle stated in the text, if the party, on whose complaint, a divorce for adultery was decreed by the court of chancery, marry again, and be indicted for polygamy, the decree of the chancellor will be conclusive evidence in favour of the defendant.

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come in and reverse the judgment, and therefore of necessity he must be permitted to aver, that it was fraudulent,) and the case of a party to the proceedings, (who cannot give evidence of fraud, but must apply to the court, which pronounced the judgment, to vacate it ;) and therefore, in the case Prudham v. Phillips' (1), where the defendant proved her marriage with one M., in answer to which a sentence of an ecclesiastical court was produced, showing that she was at the time married to another person, Chief Justice Willes, after much debate, refused to allow the de-. fendant to prove that the sentence had been obtained by fraud.

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SECT. II.

Of Sentences in Courts of Admiralty and Foreign Courts.

THE Judge of the Admiralty has the sole and exclusive cognizance in questions of prize or not prize at sea (2). The true reason of this rule is, that prizes are acquisitions jure belli, and the jus belli is to be determined by the law of nations, and not by the particular municipal law of any country. A sentence therefore in the prize court, deciding the question of prize, is conclusive, in all it professes to decide, on the same point incidentally arising in courts of common law. "It has been clearly settled, (said the Master of the Rolls in the case of Kindersley against Chase (3),) from the time of Lord Hale down to the present period, that a sentence of condemnation in a court of admiralty is conclusive, when it proceeds on the ground of enemy's property, that the property belongs to enemies, and not only for the immediate purpose of such a sentence, but it is binding on all courts and against all persons. The sen

(1) Ambler, 763. cited by the L. Ch. from a MS. note of Sergt. Parker.

(2) Tompson v. Smith, 1 Sid. 320. Brown v. Frankly, Carth. 476. Le

Caux v. Eden, 2 Doug. 600. Lindo v. Rodney, n. (1). ib,

(3) Cockpit, July 1801, Park Insur. last edit. 490.

tence of a court of admiralty proceeding in rem, must bind all parties, must bind all the world.”

The sentence of a foreign court of admiralty, also, which is acknowledged by the law of nations, and of competent jurisdiction, deciding the question of property, is conclusive, if the same question arise in this country (1) (a). And though in the case of Hughes and Cornelius, the leading case on this subject, the question upon the foreign sentence arose in an action of trover, and not in an action on a policy of assurance, (where the non-compliance with a warranty of neutrality is in dispute,) yet, from that period down to the present, the doctrine there laid down has been considered. equally applicable to questions of warranty in actions on policies, as to questions of property in actions of trover (2). And it may now be assumed as the settled doctrine of courts of English law, that ail sentences of foreign courts, (b) of competent jurisdiction to decide questions of prize, are to be received here as conclusive evidence in actions upon policies of assurance, on every subject immediately and properly within the jurisdiction of such foreign courts, and upon which they have professed to decide judicially (3). It

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It is not necessary in order to prove a condemnation to produce any thing more than the libel and sentence; although it is a frequent but useless, practice to read the proceedings at length. 6 Cranch 220. Condy's Marsh, 706. n. And the decree alone has ⚫been held sufficient, if it state the material facts. 7 Johns. Rep.

519.

(b) The capture must first be proved, as a foundation for introducing the sentence in evidence. Marshall v. Parker, 2 Campb.

69.

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is now too late, said Mr. Just. Lawrence (4), to examine the practice of admitting these sentences to the extent to which they have been received, supposing that practice might at first have appeared doubtful. On the authority of those decisions men have acted for a long series of years, and entered into contracts of assurance in this country, with a knowledge of such decisions, and in expectation that the *questions, arising out of such contracts, to which the decisions are applicable, will be ruled by them. Such a sentence of condemnation will be binding on the rights of third persons, as well as on the parties to the original suit ; it is conclusive between the assured and the underwriter, with respect to every fact which it professes to decide (a). Thus, when it proceeds on the ground of enemy's property, it is conclusive, that the property belongs to enemies, not only for the immediate purpose of such a sentence, but it is binding on all courts and as against all persons (1) And the sentence is binding, whether it proceed to condemn the ship expressly as being enemy's property, or whether such a ground of decision can only be collected from other parts of the proceedings; and this, although it appear on the face of the sentence, that the prize-court arrived at the conclusion through the medium of rules of evidence and rules of presumption, established only by

(4) Lothian v. Henderson, 3 Bos.

1 Kindersley v. Chase, Park Ins.

& Pull. 524. See also Baring v. 490.
Clagett, 3 Bos. & Pull, 214.

(a) Acc. Croudson and others v. Leonard, 4 Cranch, 434. C Cranch 45. Dempsey v. Insurance Company of Philadelphia, 1 Binney 299. n. Baxter et al. v. New England Marine Insurance Company, 6 Mass. Rep. 277. S. C. 7 Mass. Kep. 275. Brown v. Union Insurance Company, 4 Day 179. 4 Dall: 424. Condy's Marsh. 706. n.

The Supreme Court of the state of New-York had decided in a variety of instances in conformity with the English doctrine, (vide 1 Johns. Cas. 341. 2 Johns. Cas. 127. 174. 1 Johns. Cas. 16. 2 Caines' Cas. in Error 348.) in favour of the conclusiveness of the sentence of a foreign court of admiralty as between insurer and in

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