MATTERS OE PRACTICE. Of docketing the judgment. By the stat. 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 20, all final judgments' are required -to be reg ularly docketed : that is, an abstract of the judgment is to be entered in a book called the judgment-docket; 3 Bla. Com. 398. And in these states the same regulation preyails See Rockwood v. Davenport, 37 Minn. 533, 35 N. W. 377, 5 Am. St. Rep. 872. Besides this, an index is required to be kept in England of judgments confessed upon warrant of attor ney, and of certain other sorts of judgments; 3 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 396,,n. In most of the states this index is required to include all judgments. The effect of docketing the judg ment is to notify all interested persons, in cluding purchasers or incumbrancers of land upon which the judgment is a lien, and sub sequent judgment creditors, of the existence and amount of the judgment. Freem. Judg• § 343. Judgments only become liens from the time they are rendered, or notice there of is filed in the register's office of the county where the property is situated ; Fogg v. Blair, 133 U. S. 534, 10 Sup. Ct. 338, 33 L. Ed. 721. In Pennsylvania, the judgment index is for this purpose conclusive evidence of the amount of a judgment in favor of a purchas er of the land bound thereby, but not against him: if the amount indexed is less than the actual amount, the purchaser is not bound to go beyond the index; but if the amount in dexed is too large, he may resort to the judg ment-docket to correct the mistake ; Appeal of Hance, 1 Pa. 408. A failure to index the abstract of a judgment is fatal to the lien; Nye v. Moody, 70 Tex. 434, 8 S. W. 606; Nye v. Gribble, 70 Tex. 458, 8 S. W. 608 ; /Etna Life Ins. Co. v. Hesser, 77 Ia. 381, 42 N. W.
325, 4 L. R. A. 122, 14 Am. St. Rep. 297.
Now, in England, judgments, in order to affect purchasers, mortgagees, and creditors, must be registered in the High Court, and renewed every five years. See 2 & 3 Vict. c. 11, s. 5.
Of the time of entering the judgment. Aft er verdict a brief interval is allowed to elapse before signing judgment, in order to give the defeated party an opportunity to apply for a new trial, or to move in arrest of judgment, if he, is so disposed. This interval, in Eng land, is four days ; Smith, Actions 150. In this country it is generally short ; but, being regulated 'either by statute or by rules of court, it of course may vary in the different states, and even in different courts of the same state.
Judgments are in their nature equal till they are reversed, in what court soever they are obtained; a judgment in a court of rec ord by grant, is equal to a judgment in a court of record by prescription ; and a judg ment in a court of pie poudre equal to a judgment in any of the superior courts. El don, L. C., in 3 Swanst. 575.
As to whether a judgment rendered in form against a defendant who died after service or appearance and before trial is void, or merely voidable, the authorities are irreconcilably in conflict ; Moehlenpah v. Mayhew, 138 Wis. 564, 119 N. W. 826, citing note in 49 L. R. A. 153.
See ARREST OF JUDGMENT; ASSUMPSIT; AT TACHMENT; CONFLICT OF LAWS; COVENANT; DEBT; DECISION; DETTNUE; EJECTMENT; CASE; DECREE; FOREIGN JUDGMENT; LIEN; MAN DATE; REPLEVIN; TRESPASS; TROVER; RES Ju DICATA; ESTOPPEL; CAUTIONARY JUDGMENT.