Sellick v. Kelly
Sellick v. Kelly
Opinion of the Court
The defendants’ counsel, in his petition for a rehearing, urges that the case of Debaillon v. Ponsony (5 Mart. N. S. 43), to which reference is made in our judgment, is not at all applicable to the present; and he says that our opinion is erroneous, and that the error we have fallen into, is, in not drawing the distinction between property capable of being mortgaged and personal property.
On referring to the affidavit taken by his client for obtaining a writ of sequestration against the steamboat A ngora, we see that the -only cause for which the order was claimed, is, that said steamer and owner are justly indebted to the applicants in the sum of $438 75 due for goods, &c,,for the payment of which they have a privilege on said boat, which they pray may- be sequestered.
Now, by the terms of art. 276 of the Code of Practice, it is required that a plaintiff, who wishes to obtain an order of seques
By referring to art. 276, which contains the enumeration of the cases alluded to in art. 276, we find, that previous to the laws of 1826 and 1839, a writ of sequestration might be obtained in six different cases, and for six different causes. For instance: under sec. 2, when one sues for the possession of moveable property or of a slave, he may obtain the same to be sequestered, when he fears that the party having possession may ill treat the slave, or send either the slave, or the property in dispute out of the jurisdiction of the court, during the pendency of the suit. The latter part of this law, shows the cause that must be set forth in the affidavit of the applicant, and it is clear that the writ could not be ordered without showing the existence of such cause. Under sec. 6, a creditor by special mortgage has the power of sequestering the mortgaged property, when he apprehends that it will be removed out of the State before he can have the benefit of his mortgage, and will make oath to the facts which induce his apprehension; and it is obvious that the existence of the special mortgage shown by the oath of the party, would not, in such case, be a sufficient cause for obtaining the issuing of the writ. Thus, the right upon which the action is based, is clearly made distinct from the cause for which the property upon which it is to be exercised is sought to be sequestered; and we have said in our judgment that, as under the law of 1826, when a plaintiff has a lien or privilege upon property, he may obtain a writ of sequestration of such property, on complying with the requisites of the law, we thought that such requisites, on the authority of the case of Debaillon v. Ponsony, where the question was fully investigated as to a general and tacit mortgage, and not, as the counsel says, with regard to a special one, ought to be the same as those required for obtaining the order on a special mort
In the cases cited from 3 La. 274, 14 lb. 266, 351 and 536, 17 lb. 209, and 1 Rob. 531, in which the sufficiency of the affidavits was in question, this court invariably considered that it was necessary that a valid cause should be sworn to by the party applying for the writ, and that he should state the facts upon which such cause was founded, according to the laws governing the cases respectively. In the case of Erwin v. Jones (5 La. 344), it was held that the creditor is required to make oath of the facts which induce him to apply for the writ, and that such writ will not be issued where the affidavit states only that the plaintiff has a lien on the property in the defendant’s hands. And in the case of the Ohio Insurance Company v. Edmondson et al. (5 La. 295), so much relied on as a case in point, and to the record of which we have been referred, the steamboat Walter Scott was sequestered, on the affidavit of the plaintiffs not simply that they had a privilege on the boat, but that said boat was on the eve of leaving the jurisdiction of the court, and that said plaintiffs were apprehensive of losing the amount they claimed, should said boat' depart previous to their demand being satisfied. This was deemed to be sufficient, as a good and legal cause was shown, substantially amounting to that pointed out in art. 275, sec. 6, and the sequestration was maintained, although it had been pray ed for in an amended or supplemental petition, referring to the original petition to which the affidavit was annexed.
In conclusion, let it be well understood that the party who prays for a writ of sequestration of his adversary’s property, in order to preserve it during the pendency of the action and give effect to the suit which he has brought, or intends to institute against him, must bring himself within any one of the cases provided for by law; and that such writ, in its nature vexatious and extraordinary, ought not to be issued, unless, according to art. 276 of the Code of Practice, his affidavit sets forth the cause
The re-hearing is, therefore, refused.
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