Stephen Johnson Field

“ If the pledgee, Blumenburgh, had written over the blank indorsement of the complainants a formal assignment to himself of the claim, and in that form had sold the certificate to Cowdrey for value, it is possible that the latter might have successfully insisted that the complainants were estopped from asserting, as against him, ownership of the claim. The principle is well settled that when the owner of property in any form clothes another with the apparent title or power of disposition, and third parties are thereby induced to deal with him, they shall be protected. ”

“ That the purchasers of non-negotiable demands, like the certificate here, from others than the original owner of them, can take only such rights as he has parted with, except when by his acts he is estopped from asserting his original claim, is established by all the authorities. ”

“ It is not pretended that any law of Congress has made the certificates of the auditors of the District of Columbia negotiable, or given to them any special character beyond that which they purport on their face to possess. ”