Woodward v. Central Bank of Georgia
Woodward v. Central Bank of Georgia
Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
delivering the opinion.
The Decree of the Circuit Court distributed in May, 1846, the entire fund raised from the sale of the Road and effects of the Monroe R. R. & Banking Co. By that Decree, after paying costs, the lien of the bill holders was recognised and established as superior to all other claims upon the fund. The Decree was excepted to by Dr. Collins and others, upon the ground that, by virtue of certain contracts and mortgages, they held liens upon the Road paramount to that of the bill holders, and were therefore entitled to be first paid out of the fund. The case was carried to the Supreme Court, and the Decree of 1846 reversed, so' far as to give Dr. Collins and those claiming with him, a paramount claim upon so much of the Road as they had built under their contracts with the Company; and so far as to limit the amount to be paid to the bill holders to what they respectively paid for them. The Supreme Court directed a commission to be raised to apportion the fund in hand, and to ascertain the amount which the holders paid for the bills. Under the Decree of 1846, and the Decree of the Supreme Court referred to, the fund was paid out, except a balance of some three or four thousand dollars, which being still in Court in December, 1847, a motion was made to distribute that according to the Decree of 1846 — that is, (the Collins claim being now paid,) to order its payment to the bill
1. Because the judgment of the Supreme Court upon Dr. Collins’ Bill of exceptions reversed the entire Decree of 1846, and thus left the fund in hand subject to any new order of the Court. This being the case, and the lien of the bill holders attaching alone upon the road, fixtures, furniture, and equipments properly- appertaining to it, and there being a portion of the original fund greater than the balance now in hand, which by the report of the commissioners who sold the entire property of the company, was raised from certain iron and other effects not attached to the t o ad — therefore—
2. Upon that fund, the oldest judgment liens attach, and it ought to be paid to them in exclusion of all other claimants.
Judge Floyd overruled these grounds of objection, deciding that they came too late — that the question of the relative dignity and lien of judgments, as compared with the lien of bill holders, had been adjudicated by the Decree of 1846, in favor of bill holders, as to all the fund,; and that the judgment of the Supreme Court upon Dr. Collins’ hill of exceptions, did not reverse so much of that Decree as fixed the relative grade of the bills and the judgments in the distribution — and ordered the money to be paid in pursuance of the Decree of 1846.
To this decision the plaintiff excepted. Thinking as we do with the Circuit Judge, upon all the positions taken by him, it becomes unnecessary to review many of the points made in die case by Mr. Rutherford, the learned counsel for the plaintiff in error.
We do not think that the judgment of this Court reversed the Decree of 1846, except so far as it is specifically stated to be reversed — and we farther believe that the specific reversals do not affect the liens respectively, as settled by the Decree, of bills and judgments. In other words, the Decree of 1846 was reversed only so far as to let in the paramount lien of Dr. Collins’ claim, against the lien of the bills, to a part of the fund, and to fix the value of the bills in the distribution at what the holders respectively paid for them. As to all other things, the Decree remained as it was at first rendered. This is proven by reference to the case made before this Court, and the judgment rendered thereon. Robert Collins was alone plaintiff in error in that case, and the Central Bank of Georgia, and other creditors, who were billhold-ers, were the defendants. The issues made were confined to the bill holders, and the contractors represented by Collins. The latter excepting to the Decree of the Court, which gave to the former a lien to their exclusion; and which, in the distribution, admitted the bills for the amount which the Bank received for them when issued. The other creditors of the Company were not directly before this Court — they, so far as the record of that case discloses, acquiesced in the Decree. The judgment pursued the record; and it was adjudged that the Decree of the Court below, be reversed — that is, reversed so far as it was presented by the record for review. This is manifest in the specifications which follow, and which specifications, beyond doubt qualify and limit the general statement, that the judgment of the Court below be reversed. The specifications are as follows: “First, because it is the opinion of this Court that the bill holders had a paramount lien only on the fund raised by the sale of the Rail Road from Macon to Griffin, and so much only of the Road from Griffin to the terminus in DeKalb as was built by the Monroe Rail Road & Banking Co., prior to the 2d August, 1842, and that the contractors of the second part, under the agreement of 2d August, 1842, in the record mentioned, had a prior and superior equity to the bill holders, to bo paid out of the said fund in proportion to the
Let the judgment of the Court below be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- John L. Woodward, error v. the Central Bank of Georgia, and others, in error
- Status
- Published