Noah Haynes Swayne

“ The act of 1789 [1] declares that 'no civil suit shall be brought . . . against an inhabitant of the United States by any original process in any other district than that whereof he is an inhabitant or in which he shall be found at the time of serving the writ.' The act of 1839 [2] authorizes the voluntary appearance of parties in regard to whom there is no inherent and insuperable jurisdictional objection, in suits elsewhere than in the district in which they reside, or in which they may be found. ”

“ In the five earliest cases the defendants in the suits at law were complainants in the suits in equity. In one of them, Dunn v. Clark, a judgment had been recovered against Dunn and others in the Circuit Court for the District of Ohio. The plaintiff, who was a citizen of Virginia, had died. The defendants filed their bill in the same court, praying for an injunction and a conveyance of the premises. All the complainants and all the defendants in the chancery suit were citizens of Ohio. ”

“ An agreement to pay out of a particular fund, however clear in its terms, is not an equitable assignment; a covenant in the most solemn form has no greater effect. The phraseology employed is not material provided the intent to transfer is manifested. ”