Noah Haynes Swayne

“ The question presented for our determination in this case is, whether a judgment at law is a lien upon real estate in the city of Washington, which, before the judgment was rendered, had been conveyed to trustees with a power of sale to secure the payment of the debts of the grantor described in the deed of trust. ”

“ Guttschick, 14 Pet. 19, where the controversy involved a deed of trust of a lot in the city of Washington, it was said, 'The only right of the grantor in the deed is the right to whatever surplus may remain, after the sale, of the money for which the property sold.' It is clear that there could be no lien of a judgment upon such a chose in action, as well as that it could not be sold upon execution. The case of Smith's Lessee v. McCann, 24 How. 398, is an instructive one upon the subject we are considering. It was a case from Maryland ”

“ Judgments by the common law were not liens upon real estate. The lien arose from the power to issue a writ of elegit. That power was given by the statute of Westminster. C. 18, 13 Ed. I. The right to extend the land fixed the lien upon it. ”