Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Again, it is a mere speculation whether the petitioner, if he had had the right, would have demanded back the ties. He did not demand them of the receiver. It is quite as likely that, if he had known the whole truth, he would have taken his chances. The thing that he is least likely to have known is the form of the appointment of the receiver, and, therefore, it is probably a fiction that that encouraged him to wait. It should not have encouraged him, because, as we have said, it gave him no rights. The fact that the receiver used the ties is of no importance. ”

“ But even if any words in the order authorized a charge on the corpus in order to pay claims like that of the petitioner, or a payment of them except from income, certainly there are none requiring it, or going beyond giving authority to the receiver if, for instance, he thought payments of previous debts necessary to the continued operation of the road. A strict construction of the decree is warranted by the previous decision of the same circuit court of appeals in International Trust Co. ”

“ The original order gave the petitioner no such rights as he asserts. It would have been a stretch of authority for the receiver, in his discretion, to apply the borrowed money to this debt. At least, he was not bound to do so. The petition on which the original order was made stated that the money was wanted to pay certain obligations, 'or so much thereof as may be necessary,' embodying the distinction which we have drawn from the cases. We already have intimated that the payment of railroad hands might stand on stronger grounds than the payment for past supplies ”