Dreyfus v. Mayer, Son & Co.
Dreyfus v. Mayer, Son & Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This case was tried in the court below by the judge, a jury being waived, and on an agreed state of facts.
In September, 1890, J. L. Savage was engaged in the liquor business at Tunica, Miss., and on the-day of September oi’dered certain goods from the appellees, merchants at Cincinnati, Ohio, which goods were purchased on credit and shipped to him by appellees.. The goods reached Tunica on September 28. On the 26th of September, Savage, having
The contention of appellant that the right of stoppage in transitu can be exercised only where the property itself can be found, is not supported by either reason or authority.
It is well settled that the levy of an attachment does not affect the right. 5 Lawson, Rights & Rem., § 2495 ; Morris v. Shryock, 50 Miss., 590. And though the goods be converted into money by an order of the court, the seller may exercise the right, by resorting to the fund realized by the sale. O’Brien v. Norris, 16 Md., 122; Hause v. Judson, 4 Dana (Ky.), 7, 29 Am. Dec. and notes. So, also, if, upon sale of the goods the court directs the proceeds to be paid to one of the parties to the suit, upon his entering into bond for repayment of the money, the nature of the fund is not thereby changed and the right of stoppage in transitu is not lost. Hall & Loney v. Richardson, 16 Md., 397; 77 Am. Dec., 303.
■It is next contended by the appellants that the circuit court had no jurisdiction to try the claim interposed by the appellees because no trial on that claim was had in the justice’s 'court, the point being that the circuit court has no jurisdiction in this cause except such as it acquired by appeal from, the judgment of the justice. The reply to this argument is, that the jurisdiction exercised by the court in trying the claimant’s issue is only ancillary, for the purpose of determining ■what disposition it shall make of property seized in a controversy in which the court has jurisdiction. The appeal by the plaintiff in attachment transferred to the circuit court the power to hear and determine the controversy between the plaintiff and defendant, and, as incident to this, was the power to determine all merely ancillary issues. By express provision of law, no trial of the right to the property levied on could be had until “ after judgment in favor of the plaintiff in attachment.”
The justice having rendered judgment against the plaintiff, it was impossible for him to submit the issue made up be
The only remaining question is, whether two or more claims-may be interposed to property seized under execution or attachment. By § 2460 it is provided that “ any person, other than the defendant, claiming property attached, may inter-plead without giving bond, but the property attached shall not thereby be replevied,” etc. It is clear, then, that if no bond had been given by any claimant, any number of independent and distinct claims might have been interposed and tried in this suit. Does the fact that a bond was given so change the condition of things as to preclude a second claim from thereafter being interposed ? Certainly it could not be held that the right of one who, under §2460 of the code, had interposed his claim to the property attached, without giving bond, could be affected or impaired by the interposition of another claim by a third person, and the execution of a bond for the forthcoming of the property under § 1774 of the code. To so decide would be to hold that one pursuing the remedy pointed out to him by law for the assertion of his rights, and forbidden by another provision (§ 2633) from bringing replevin against the officer, might, without fault on his part and without his knowledge, find the property put beyond his reach by the action of an adverse claimant and his right-to a trial of the issue tendered by him, thereby defeated.
We are not called upon to decide whether the sureties upon the forthcoming bond were liable to judgment in favor of appellees. The sureties have not appealed, and certainly Dreyfus & Weil, to whom the property was delivered, cannot assign error for them. They, at least, were properly directed
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Dreyfus & Weil v. Mayer, Son & Co.
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Sale. Stoppage in transitu. Attachment. Fund in court. The right of stoppage in transitu is not lost by the seizure of the goods en route under attachment against the buyer; and even if the goods, being attached, are delivered to a claimant on execution of a forthcoming bond, the bond will represent them, and the seller may intervene and assert his right thereto. 2. Appeal to Circuit Court. Jurisdiction. Trial of new issues. íf an attachment suit in the justice court be decided against the plaintiff, and he appeals, the circuit court has jurisdiction, though after dismissal by the plaintiff, to allow claimants’ issues to be made up and tried, although no trial thereof was had in the justice court, for the appeal of the plaintiff on the main issue carries with it all such ancillary issues ' as are necessary to determine the proper disposition of the property. 3. Claimants’ Issues. Two or more for same property. Code 1880, §§ 1774, 2460. Under § 2460, Code 1880, as many claims may be interposed to property seized by attachment, and as many issues made up to try the same, as may be necessary; and this, whether the property remains in court or has been delivered to a claimant on bond, under ¡5 1774.