Means v. Vance
Means v. Vance
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court. .
It would have been more satisfactory to this Court, to have been informed, upon the authority of what adjudged case, the presiding Judge ordered the money in this case to be paid over
If it is necessary to go again into the question, whether money can be levied on under an execution, I am prepared to say, I am perfectly satisfied with the opinion expressed in the case of Summers v. Caldwell, on that subject. And in addition to the cases there referred to, the case of Hardy v. Dobbin, 12 Johns. Rep. 220, and other cases from the same State, go the whole length in support of the doctrine.
The reasoning of Judge Marshall, in the case of Turner v. Fendal, 1 Cranch, 117, is conclusive on the subject. Indeed, it is so perfectly consonant with common sense, and the most obvious principles of law, that it would seem to me, authority in support of it ought not to be required. The object of the execution is to make the money out of the property of the defendant; and if he can get the money without the sale of the property, the object is answered. Lord Ellenborough, in the case of Knight v. Criddle, 9 East, 48, says, in a very laconic manner, “ it is an innovation on the law which ought not to ho admitted.” But his Lordship does not inform us where that article of the law is to be found, on which it is thought to be so dangerous an innovation: And I cannot give to a mere dictum of Lord Ellen-borough, however respectable it may be, the effect of over-ruling the high authority to which reference has already been made.
In the case of Turner v. Fendal, Judge Marshall seems to be of opinion that the plaintiff, in an execution, has not such an ownership in the specific pieces of coin, which the officer has received, that it may he levied on, until it is actually paid over
The rights of third persons will always be respected, where any such claim shall be interposed. If, therefore, it had appeared that any other person had a legal, or even an equitable claim to the money, the Court ought not to have interfered in this way. But no such claim is set up in this case. No question is made with regard to the ownership of the money. The only question is with regard to its liability to be paid over to the execution.
It would appear from the brief, that the only opposition to the motion came from the officers of the Court, who seem to have supposed that they had a prior lien on the fund; but neither m the report of the presiding Judge, nor in the grounds of appeal, is there one word said on that subject. I take it, therefore, that that question is abandoned. I am of opinion, on the general question, that the money was properly ordered to be paid over. For whether it was to be paid to the defendant in the execution, in lieu of dower, or in any other way, was not material. The
Motion refused.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.