Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ It is true that the transfer of the books may have been against the defendant's will, but it is compelled by the law as a necessary incident to the distribution of his property, not in order to obtain criminal evidence against him. Of course, a man cannot protect his property from being used to pay his debts by attaching to it a disclosure of crime. ”

“ On the first point the facts are simply that the books had been transferred to the trustee in accordance with § 70 of the bankruptcy act of July 1, 1898 [30 Stat. at L. 565, chap. 541, U.S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, p. 1511] , and were produced before the grand jury and before the petit jury at the trial. That the transfer lawfully could be required is established by Re Harris, 221 U.S. 274, 55 L. ed. 732, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. ”