Howard v. Cannon
Howard v. Cannon
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Robert R. Cannon on March 18, 1858, conveyed to the plaintiff, Richard G. Howard, all his lands, chattels and credits, in trust, primarily, for the payment of his debts, in terms and according to a classification which are not apparently impeachable. The assignor was greatly embarrassed in his affairs, to the extent of probable insolvency; and the assignee filed this bill to call in the creditors and marshal the assets of the assignor. After the conveyance to the plaintiff, Cummings and Styron, residents without the limits of this State, recovered judgment for a large sum against the assignor, Cannon, in the Circuit Court of the United States for South Carolina, and when this bill was
The plaintiff appeals from so much of the decree as sustains the pleas to the jurisdiction and exempts Cummings & Styron from the call on creditors to present and prove their demands. The Chancellor proceeded mainly on the reason, not suggested by the pleas, that Cummings & Styron were non-resident and had no such property here, the subject of litigation, as brought them within the cognizance of the State Court.
The plaintiff, in his first ground.of appeal, impugns, and we think justly, this course of reasoning, because Cummings & Styron had a direct and substantial interest in the subject of controversy. The Act of 1784, 7 Stat., 210, gives jurisdiction to the Court as to absent defendants notified by advertisement in the newspapers for three months, without express restriction as to their having property in the State. But the
The second ground of appeal assails the reasoning expressed in the pleas, that the subject of controversy was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of the United States, which rendered the judgment of Cummings & Styron vs. Cannon. We have every disposition to avoid even the appearance of conflict with the tribunals of the United States created under the Constitution, and we have no disposition to quibble between restraining processes and restraining persons from proceeding under them. But surely there is a substantial difference between undertaking to revise the judgment and procedure of a co-ordinate or even superior tribunal, and interfering to restrain parties from acts not au
It is suggested, however, that the plaintiff should have applied to the'Circuit Gourt of the United States on the equity side, for relief in this case. But the plaintiff could not have obtained relief there, as most of the creditors were resident in the same State with himself. It is unnecessary to discuss the provisions of the Constitution and of the Acts of Congress in relation to this matter, as it is settled, by adjudication, that the Circuit Court of the United States has no jurisdiction as to defendants resident out of the district in which the Court is held. Russell vs. Clarke, 7 Cranch, 69; Carneal vs. Banks, 10 Wheat., 181; Ford vs. Douglass, 5 How., 143.
It is ordered and decreed, that the appeal be sustained, and the circuit decree modified accordingly.
It is further ordered and decreed, that the defendants, Beaseley & Wingate, deliver to the plaintiff the chattels seized by them.
Decree modified.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.