JUDGMENT IN REM. An adjudication pronounced upon the status of some partic ular subject-matter by a tribunal having com petent authority for that purpose. 3 Sm. L. Cas., 9th Am. ed. 2015.
An adjudication against some person or thing, or upon the status of some subject-mat ter; which, wherever and whenever binding upon any person, is equally binding upon all persons. Bartero v. Bank, 10 Mo. App. 78.
The universal effect of a judgment in rem depends upon the principle that it is a sol emn declaration, proceeding from an accred ited quarter, concerning the status of the thing adjudicated upon ; which very declara tion operates accordingly upon the status of the thing adjudicated upon, and ipso facto, renders it such as it is therehy declared to be ; 3 Sm. L. Cas., 9th Am. ed. 2015-16, 2032, 2043.
The most frequent cases of such ;judgment are found in the courts exercising jurisdic tion of cases in admiralty. So also a for eign court in a case of divorce which is recog nized as establishing the status of a person is a judgment in rem.
In Pennoyer v. Neff, the court said: "It is true that, in a strict sense, a proceeding in rem is one taken directly against property, and has for its object the disposition of prop erty, without reference to the title of individ ual claimants ; but, in a larger and more gen eral sense, •the terms are applied to actions I between parties, • where the direct object is to reach and dispose of property owned by them, or of some interest therein. Such are
cases commenced by attachment against the property of debtors, or instituted to partition real estate, foreclose a mortgage, or enforce a lien. So far as they affect property in this state, they are substantially proceedings in rem iu the broader sense which we have mentioned." 95 U. S. 734, 24 L. Ed. 565. A judgment against a railway company in fa vor of an assignee of claims for labor per formed for a subcontractor, which forecloses a statutory lien on the property of the com pany for debt, and orders a sale of the prop erty, cannot be construed as a judgment in personam ; Austin & N. W. R. Co. v. Rucker, 59 Tex. 587. See IN REM.