Henry Billings Brown

“ The circumstance that, nine years after his adjudication in bankruptcy, he took title to the property as the devisee of his sister, does not lend any significance to the fact that, at the date of his bankruptcy, his sister was the owner, in possession by tenants, and that the supreme court found her title to be absolute. ”

“ The assignee's sale as a conveyance of the property of the bankrupt was not attacked in any way. He was a mere conduit through which the interest of Frederick R. Wilson, if he had any for himself or his creditors, passed to Snow. We have repeatedly held that, when the question in a state court is not whether, if the bankrupt had title, it would pass to his assignee, but whether he had title at all, and the state court decided that he had not, no Federal question is presented. ”

“ That, under the law of Illinois, when land has been conveyed by deed, absolute in form, though intended as security for the payment of a debt, the payment of the debt may be abandoned, and the deed treated as an absolute conveyance, although originally intended as a mortgage, and that such arrangement may be made by parol, and be binding. 202 Ill. 83, 66 N. E. 869.
It thus appears that the case turned upon the validity of the deed from the appellee to his sister, Julia Wilson. ”