Res judicata in equity

A Court of equity cannot try over again the merits which were full tried in the former cause. To revise the merits of a cause which has been once tried between the same parties, and in a competent Court, is the province of an appellate Court, and not of a co-ordinate tribunal, or one of a different jurisdiction. Parties must prosecute their rights in due time, and before the proper forum; and having once elected their forum, the decision is conclusive, not only as to the matter actually adjudged, but as to every matter which might have been litigated and decided.