Heirs of Slidell v. Huppenbauer
Heirs of Slidell v. Huppenbauer
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs, the heirs of John Slidell, sue the defendant for two lots of ground and the buildings on Common street, which he acquired under a writ of venditioni exponas issued on the judgment condemning them, under act of Congress of July 17, 1862, as the property of John Slidell; they also claim the rents of said property since the death of Mr. Slidell, July 30, 1871. There was judgment for plaintiffs and defendant has appealed.
In Bigelow v. Forrest, 9 Wallace 339, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the act of July 17, 1862, “to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes,” and the joint resolution of the same date explanatory of it, are to be construed together. Under the two thus construed all that could be sold by virtue of a decree of condemnation and order of sale under the act was a right to the property seized, terminating with the life of the person for whose offense it had been seized. The fact that such person owned the estate in fee simple, and that the libel was against all the right,, title, interest, and estate of such person, and that the sale and marshal’s deed professed to convey as much, does not change the result. In Micou v. Day, Heirs of John Slidell v. Brugere and the same v. Heath, this court followed the interpretation of the act of July 17, 1862, given by the Supreme Court of the United States in Bigelow v. Forrest and held that the confiscation did not reach beyond the life of
How the title of the defendant, a purchaser under the same decree and order of sale as that under which Brugere and Heath purchased, could acquire a better title than they did, or than that received by him at the adjudication, because of a subsequent revision and affirmance of the said decree by the Supreme Court of the United States, it is difficult to imagine. And how the litigation of the writ of error to which plaintiffs were made parties, after the death of their father, John Slidell, and the decision maintaining the confiscation, can estop them from asserting rights which arose subsequent to the confiscation and which under act of July 17, 1862, were reserved to them notwithstanding the validity of the confiscation, it is likewise difficult to understand. In revising the decree of condemnation the rights of the parties and the questions at issue at the time of the libel and decree were the subjects of inquiry. The rights which the plaintiffs now assert were not then at issue. They could not have intervened in the confiscation proceedings against John Slidell to assert rights which only accrued to them long afterward, namely, on the death of their
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Heirs of John Slidell v. J. Huppenbauer
- Status
- Published