Joseph P. Bradley

“ If the complainant had no right to hold the goods, notwithstanding his claim to hold them, in an action at law against the assignee he could have recovered only nominal damages; and, coming into a court of equity for redress, and praying for an account of the value of the goods, and for damages, if it turn out that he had no right to withhold the goods from the possession of the assignee, the court would be very reluctant to compel the latter to place the value of the goods in his hands to be relitigated in another suit. ”

“ The eighth section, in granting appeals and writs of error from the District to the Circuit Court, only does so in cases in equity and at law, and in cases where the claim of a creditor is allowed or rejected. If, therefore, adverse claims to property could be decided by the summary action of the District Court, not only would the party claiming adversely to the assignee be deprived of a trial by due process of law, but he would be without appeal. ”

“ The claim, however, is to the right of possession, and that right may be just as absolute and just as essential to the interests of the claimant as the right of property in the thing itself, and is, in fact, a species of property in the thing just as much the subject of litigation as the thing itself. ”