Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ The respondent argues that the vendor's lien is equitable; that the statute of limitations does not govern equitable proceedings, and that a court of equity will not be governed by the analogy of the statute unless it seems equitable to follow it; that the equity jurisdiction of the United States is not to be affected by state laws; that therefore the United States courts are unincumbered by the Texas decisions, and that they ought to say that it is inequitable to deny a remedy on the security when a suit is barred upon the debt. ”

“ A vendor seems to have greater rights than are enjoyed by a purchaser of notes for the price of land to which a vendor's lien is attached. If not inequitable, the vendor may resolve the sale for nonpayment, whereas a later holder of the notes only can have the lands sold and the proceeds applied in satisfaction, and this right is lost when the notes are barred. ”

“ This is not a matter of procedure or jurisdiction, but of substantive rights concerning land. It seems to us that it should be governed by the decisions of the state where the land lies. See Slide & S. Gold Mines v. ”