preserving the status quo of the subject-matter of the litigation during the pendency thereof, and the final decrees of courts requiring the parties to do or not to do the things enjoined upon them by such decrees. In the latter cases, if the decree was rendered without jurisdiction, it can be disobeyed with impunity, for no one owes obedience to a void decree, as it is without any force whatever. "A void judgment is, in legal effect, no judgment. By it no rights are divested. From it no rights can be obtained. Being worthless in itself, all proceedings founded upon it are equally worthless. It neither binds nor bars any one. All acts performed under it and all acts flowing out of it are void. The parties attempting to enforce it may be responsible as trespassers." Rankin v. Schofield, 81 Ark. 463. On the other hand, a court possesses the power of hearing and determining the question of its jurisdiction, and may, while so doing, require the parties to preserve the status of the subject-matter. United States v. Arredondo, 6 Pet. 709; United States v. Shipp, 203 U. S. 563. However, when the pleadings show on their face that the court is wholly without jurisdiction of the subject-matter set forth therein, any preliminary order made or final judgment rendered is void. Williford v. State, 43 Ark. 62.
It becomes necessary, therefore, to inquire as to the alleged cause of action set forth in the complaint—whether any cause of action is set forth at all, and, if so, whether or not it falls within the jurisdiction of the chancery court.
The complaint alleges in substance that the State of Arkansas, acting through its authorized officers and agents, entered into a written contract with the plaintiff's assignor for the hire of convicts, that the said contract was subsequently assigned to plaintiff and amended in writing, and also was subsequently amended by a verbal promise and undertaking of the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners, which was duly entered in writing on the minutes of the board, to the effect that the deficit in the number of convicts called for in the contract to be furnished to the plaintiff should be made good, so that the plaintiff should receive the aggregate amount of convict labor specified in the contract. In other words, the complaint sets forth an alleged contract entered into with the Penitentiary Board, evidenced partly by the original and amended writings, and partly by the
