Nathan Clifford

“ Those parts of the answer being laid out of the case as insufficient to constitute a defence, the conclusion is inevitable that the title to the land was in the complainant as alleged, and that he parted with it through threats of personal violence and by duress, and without any consideration.
Argument to show that a deed or other written obligation or contract, procured by means of duress, is inoperative and void, is hardly required, as the proposition is not denied by the respondent. ”

“ They deny that contracts procured by menace of a mere battery to the person, or of trespass to lands, or loss of goods, can be avoided on that account, and the reason assigned for this qualification of the rule is, that such threats are held not to be of a nature to overcome the mind and will of a firm and prudent man, because it is said that if such an injury is inflicted, sufficient and adequate redress may be obtained in a suit at law. ”

“ Different regulations, however, prevailed in different States, and in some neither a judgment nor a decree for the payment of money, except in cases of attachment or mesne process, created any preference in favor of the creditor until the execution was issued, and had been levied on the land. Where the lien is recognized, it confers a right to levy on the land to the exclusion of other adverse interests acquired subsequently to the judgment; but the lien constitutes no property or right in the land itself. ”

“ Where there is an arrest for an improper purpose, without just cause, or where there is an arrest for a just cause, but without lawful authority, or for a just cause, but for an unlawful purpose, even though under proper process, it may be construed as duress of imprisonment; and if the person arrested execute a contract or pay money for his release, he may avoid the contract as one procured by duress, or may recover back the money in an action for money had and received. ”

“ Material allegations in the bill of complaint ought to be answered and admitted, or denied, if the facts are within the knowledge of the respondent; and if not, be ought to state what his belief is upon the subject, if he has any, and if he has none, and cannot form any, he ought to say so, and call on the complainant for proof of the alleged facts, or waive that branch of the controversy ”

“ The judgment is founded upon the bills of exchange received for that loan. Judgments were not liens at common law, but several of the States had passed laws to that effect before the judicial system of the United States was organized, and the decisions of this court have established the doctrine that Congress, in adopting the processes of the States, also adopted the modes of process prevailing at that date in the courts of the several States, in respect to the lien of judgments within the limits of their respective jurisdictions. ”

“ Such an answer does not make it necessary for the complainant to introduce more than one witness to overcome the defence, and the well-known omissions and defects of such an answer may have some tendency to prove the allegations of the bill of complaint, but they are not such an admission of the same as will constitute a sufficient foundation for a decree upon the merits. ”

“ Undenied as the answer is by any replication, it must have its fair scope as an admission; but the court is not authorized to supply anything not expressed in it, beyond what is reasonably implied from the language employed. ”