Nathan Clifford

“ Unlawful registration is no better than none at all, for the reason that, being void, it does not operate as notice to any third party, and, if so, then it follows that neither the United States nor the grantees of the United States had any knowledge that the title of the guilty party had been previously transferred under the laws of the rebel States. Fraud is not imputed to the United States, and it is as certain as truth that the purchasers of the properties were as innocent of fraud as their grantors. ”

“ Enemy parties conveying or accepting conveyances of real properties, under such circumstances, must be understood to do so with the knowledge that the rightful sovereign, if he is successful in regaining the sovereignty of the State or district, may refuse to recognize the validity of such a transfer, in a case where it appears that the grantor, before the act of transfer was executed, had been guilty of treasonable acts against his rightful sovereign, and that both grantor and grantees were at the time engaged in war against the rightful government. ”

“ Giving in payment, as defined in the jurisprudence of Louisiana, is an act by which a debtor gives a thing to the creditor who is willing to receive it in payment of a sum which is due; and the decision is that it differs from the ordinary contract of sale in this, that the latter is perfect by the mere consent of the parties, even before the delivery, while the giving in payment is made only by delivery. ”

“ Cases of the kind are never regarded as authority, for the reason that they are, by the express words of the act of Congress providing for their review, subject to be modified or reversed; nor can it be admitted that there is any foundation for such a rule, as it would render the Confiscation Act a public snare and a delusion. ”

“ Only one more remains for examination, and that is, that the United States are not a third party, within the meaning of the State law, and therefore that an act of sale never registered in the parish where the property is situated is sufficient to defeat the title of a purchaser derived under the confiscation proceedings and the decree of condemnation. ”

“ Courts and jurists everywhere also agree that all trading in time of war with a public enemy, unless by permission of the sovereign, is interdicted when war is declared or duly recognized by the belligerent parties. ”

“ Wheaton says that the law of the place where real property is situated governs exclusively as to the tenure, the title, and the descent of real property, and the notes of the editor fully confirm the proposition. ”

“ Public war, duly declared or recognized as such by the warmaking power, imports a prohibition by the sovereign to the subjects or citizens, of all commercial intercourse and correspondence with citizens or persons domiciled in the enemy country. ”

“ Power was conferred upon the President, and it was made his duty by the fifth section of the act to suppress insurrection, to cause the seizure of all estate and property of the persons designated in that section, and to apply and use the same and the proceeds thereof for the support of the army. ”

“ Legal seizure of the property condemned was made on the 29th of July, 1863, and the record shows that the information was filed on the 7th of August following. Judgment was rendered Fed. 3, 1865, and the sale followed under the writ of venditioni exponas in the regular course of proceedings in such a prosecution.
Jurists of all schools and courts of all nations agree that the title to real estate is governed by the law of the place where it is situated. ”

“ Those not parties to a written agreement or instrument by which their interest in the thing conveyed is sought to be affected are properly designated as third persons in the jurisprudence of that State. ”