David Josiah Brewer

“ I agree that 'it is a rule of general application that, where property is in the actual possession of one court of competent jurisdiction, such possession cannot be disturbed by process out of another court;' and I may say that I agree, further, that, when a court has possession of property, it may restrain the bringing of any suit in any other court to disturb that possession, and that an order for such restraint operates upon all persons within its jurisdiction, and can be enforced, if need be, by proceedings as for a contempt. ”

“ In the opinion of the court the possession of the officer is deemed the important matter. I submit that that is significant only as it bears upon the question of possession by the court. No one would pretend that the act of a marshal or a sheriff in taking possession of property would have any significance, unless it were in the execution of some order of the court. If the proceeding is, of itself, such as to put the property into the possession of the court, that is enough, and there is no need of inquiry as to whether the officer of the court has in fact placed his hand upon it. ”

“ It is only in harmony with views that have been expressed by judges of the federal courts. The bankrupt act of congress authorized voluntary proceedings in bankruptcy, as to the statutes of New York authorize voluntary proceedings on the part of its corporations in insolvency. In Re Vogel, 7 Blatchf. 19, Fed. Cas. No. 16,982, a question was presented as to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court, as against that of a state court, whose officers, in obedience to a writ of replevin, had taken manual possession of the property before any officer of the former court had touched it ”