"Where
a court has
jurisdiction,
it has a right to decide any question
which occurs in the cause, and whether its decision be correct
or otherwise, its judgments, until reversed, are regarded
as binding in every other court.
The jurisdiction of any court exercising authority over a subject may be inquired into in every other court when the proceedings of the former are relied on and brought before the latter by a party claiming the benefit of such proceedings
But
if it act without authority, its judgments and orders are
regarded as nullities. They are not voidable, but simply void,
and form no bar to a remedy sought in opposition to them,
even prior to a reversal. They constitute no justification,
and all persons concerned in executing such judgments or sentences
are considered in law as trespassers.
" Elliott v. Lessee of Piersol, 26 U.S. 1 Pet. 328 328
(1828)
