Stephen Johnson Field

“ In the other case, if the defendant establishes his averments, the judgment must be for the possession of the premises and the rent and profits.
In the Federal courts such a blending of equitable and legal causes of action in one suit is not permissible under the Process Act of 1792, substantially re-enacted in the Revised Statutes, which declares that in suits in equity, in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, the forms and modes of proceeding shall be according to the principles, rules, and usages which belong to courts of equity. ”

“ There is an additional reason for sending the case back,-that the evidence as to the abandonment of the homestead of the plaintiff is very unsatisfactory, and leaves great doubt on our minds whether the conclusion reached by the court below on this point was correct. We do not think that a homestead can be considered as abandoned because occupied by tenants, and the owner is temporarily residing elsewhere. ”

“ Toombs, reported in the 18th of Wallace, does not conflict with this view; it only decides that the Process Act of 1792 does not extend to proceedings in the courts of the several Territories, which may be regulated by their respective legislatures. ”