Fletcher v. Clarke
Fletcher v. Clarke
Opinion of the Court
This caséis before us upon exceptions to the judgment of the Judge of the District Court, charging the person summoned as trustee. Previous to the enactment of
It could not have been the intention of the Legislature, in the last section quoted, to provide only, for a case, where the supposed trustee should disclose in totidem verbis, that he held goods, effects or credits of the principal defendant, in fraud of the rights of creditors; from experience we might infer, that by such a construction the provision would be in fact in most instances nugatory. If the meaning of the provision was designed to be thus limited, the thirty-fourth section of the chapter could have no application to a question arising under the sixty-ninth section ; but its object is not restricted.
If the creditor supposes, that he may obtain payment of his debt by a resort to a suit, under the sixty-ninth section, it is competent for him, also, if the supposed trustee makes dis
Where such fraud as is referred to in this provision is found either by the Court or the jury, nothing remains but the application of the law to the fact so found. If the fraud is one of law merely, and the plaintiff in the suit became a creditor after the transfer by the principal defendant, the supposed trustee may with propriety be discharged. But if the fraud was actual, prior and subsequent creditors may avail themselves of the statute. If the whole evidence was submitted to the judge he would pass upon the disclosure and such other evidence as should be adduced; he would ascertain the facts to his satisfaction, and from his conclusion thereupon, and the
It is only when a party is aggrieved by any opinion, direction or judgment of the District Court in matter of law, in a case not otherwise appealable, that he can allege exceptions. R. S. chap. 97, sect. 18. The facts cannot be revised on exceptions.
The judgment of the District Court is to be considered as correct, till the excepting party shows it to be otherwise, under the exceptions themselves. It does not devolve upon the other party to sustain the opinion, direction or judgment of the Court, until legal error is shown. And if the exceptions do not afford satisfaction, that the District Court misunderstood and misapplied the law, they must be overruled. It cannot be assumed, that the facts found by the Court, to which it applied the law, when evidence was to be considered and weighed, was otherwise than as it treated it, however erroneous its conclusions may be believed to have been. Before the exceptions can be sustained, it must appear therefrom, that upon the facts as they were found, the law did not authorize the opinion, decision, or judgment complained of.
In the case at bar, the excepting party was charged upon the disclosure and the depositions filed in the case. No exceptions are taken to the mode in which the evidence of the plaintiff was introduced ; the evidence was proper for the consideration of the Court. It does not appear from the exceptions in what manner any question of fact presented was decided. If the question was, whether there was fraud as against creditors, in the supposed sale of the personal property referred to in the disclosure, by the principal defendant to the supposed trustee, and it was found that there was no fraud, the law would seem to require a judgment of discharge; but if otherwise, the judgment which was given, might be fully authorized. The case does not present any question of law, which was submitted to the Court, nor does it disclose any facts iound, upon which a question of law must have arisen ; there is therefore nothing
Exceptions overruled.
The case of E. L. Pottle & al. v. James D. Clark and Nelson Calderivood, trustee, was submitted by the agreement of parties to the Court upon the same disclosure of the trustee, and depositions that were taken for the case of Richard Fletcher & al. v. James D. Clark and Nelson Calderwood, trustee. In that case also Exceptions overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.