turns on other considerations, turns on the effect of the conduct of the company as an estoppel. That it has such effect is contended by the trustee, and there is an express concession that if objection had been made the company would have been entitled to a dismissal of the petition. It is, however, insisted that it is settled 'that an erroneous adjudication against an exempt corporation, whether made by default or upon a contest or trial before the bankruptcy court, can be attacked only by appeal, writ of error, or prompt motion to vacate,' and that section 4 does not relate to the jurisdiction of the court over the subject-matter. 'It does not, therefore,' is the further contention, 'create or limit jurisdiction of the court with respect to its power to consider and pass upon the merits of the petition,' and that 'the valid exercise of jurisdiction does not depend upon the correctness of the decision.' And again, if the court in the exercise of its jurisdictional power, 'reached a wrong conclusion, the judgment is not void, it is merely error to be corrected on appeal or by motion to vacate, timely made, but as long as it stands it is binding on every one.' There is plausibility in the propositions taken in their generality, but there are opposing ones. Courts are constituted by authority and they cannot beyond the power delegated to them. If they act beyond that authority, and certainly in contravention of it, their judgments and orders are regarded as nullities. They are not voidable, but simply void, and this even prior to reversal. Elliott v. Peirsol , 1 Pet. 328, 340, 7 L. Ed. 164; Old Wayne Life Ass'n v. McDonough , 204 U. S. 8, 27 Sup. Ct. 236, 51 L. Ed. 345 .
