In re Wilka
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts). The sole objection urged in argument to the jurisdiction of the referee is that, because the property covered by the liens of the bank’s mortgage and the bank itself were without the territorial jurisdiction of the court, it had no jurisdiction to make the order for the sale. The referee finds, however, that the trustee was in the actual possession of the property. If this is true, though the property may then have been situated in South Dakota, the court was in the actual custody and possession of the property through its trustee. Section 70 of the bankruptcy act vests the trustee, by operation of law, as of the date of the adjudication, with the title to the property of the bankrupt not exempt to him, wherever it may be situated. Such title authorizes the trustee to reduce such property to his actual possession, and when he has done so the property is then in the actual custody and control of the bankruptcy court administering the estate. The Granite City Bank is a creditor of the bankrupt, Wilka, and therefore a party to the bankruptcy proceedings in such sense that it is bound by the orders of the court made with reference to property in its actual custody. Hanover Nat. Bank v. Moyses, 186 U. S. 181, 22 Sup. Ct. 857, 46 L. Ed. 1113; In re Pekin Plow Co., 112 Fed. 308, 50 C. C. A. 257.
Section 58 of the bankruptcy act of July 1, 1898, c. 541, 30 Stat. 561 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3444] provides “that creditors shall have ten days notice by mail * * * (4) of all proposed sales of
The order of the referee, upon the issues and facts shown by his certificate, is approved.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re WILKA
- Cited By
- 19 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Bankruptcy — Jurisdiction op Court — Sale op Property Outside op District. A trustee in bankruptcy is vested with title to tbe bankrupt’s property wherever situated; and when he has taken actual possession thereof, although it may be in another state, it is in the custody of the court of bankruptcy administering the estate, and a referee has jurisdiction to order its-sale free from liens. 2. Same — Residence op Creditor. The fact that a mortgagee of a bankrupt’s property resides in another state, where the property is also situated, does not affect the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court administering the estate to order it sold free from, the lien of the mortgage on proper notice to the mortgagee.