Ward Hunt

“ Massachusetts is the last State in the Union to which any enlarged comity should be extended in regard to the recognition of her insolvent laws, and of titles thereby created. In 1854 the Supreme Court of that State decided that an assignment of property in that Commonwealth, made in New York by an insolvent citizen of New York, to a trustee for the benefit of creditors, giving preference to certain creditors, also citizens of New York, is ineffectual as against an attachment made in Massachusetts by a citizen thereof. ”

“ Foreign nations are still and to a greatly increased extent our creditors, and especially so with regard to goods at sea, in foreign bottoms. To these the doctrine contended for is quite as applicable as to Massachusetts ships arriving at our port. And this court is now asked to make a decision which, as to the immense interest of our foreign importations daily arriving in the port of New York, will defeat the just claims of domestic creditors in all cases of foreign bankruptcy of the owner and shipper occurring after their shipment and before arrival. ”

“ Beyond all doubt these acts of Congress declare the true character of registered and enrolled ships and vessels, and all ships and vessels not brought within these provisions of the acts of Congress, and not entitled to the benefits and privileges thereto belonging, are of no more value as American vessels, said Mr. Justice Nelson, than the wood and iron out of which they are constructed. ”

“ Doubt cannot be entertained upon that subject, and it is equally clear by all the authorities that ships at sea and goods to arrive pass to a purchaser for value, if the purchase is made in good faith, just as effectually as if the ship was moored at her wharf and the goods were deposited in a warehouse. ”

“ In reference to such a case it has been well said that there is a broad distinction between a bill by a bankrupt, the author of the fraud, and one by the assignee, who seeks to recover the property for the benefit of the very interest sought to be defrauded, as public policy in the first case forbids the court to lend its aid to a plan intended to deprive creditor of their just rights, but to grant relief in the second case, is to act in accordance with the rights of creditors for the purpose of defeating the fraudulent design. ”

“ Property may be attached on mesne process in that State, and if it be true that the property in the ship, testing the question by the laws of that State, did not pass to the assignees of the insolvent debtors by virtue of the instruments of assignment, further examination of the case is unnecessary, as it must plainly follow that there is no error in the record, and that the judgment should be affirmed. ”

“ In cases unaffected with fraud the assignee stands in the situation of the insolvent debtor, and succeeds to all his property and rights of property, whether legal or equitable, and the rule is supported by the highest authority, that the assignment passes all his property, whether mentioned or not in the schedule to the assignee ”

“ Assignees in insolvency under the comprehensive rule by which the assignee is vested with all the rights of property belonging to the bankrupt, acquire the same right as creditors to avoid any transactions of the insolvent debtor which were intended to enable a third party to hold his property in trust for his own benefit. ”

“ Debts were owed by the insolvent debtors to parties in New York, and on the twenty-fourth of April, before the vessel arrived at her wharf, Edward M. Robinson commenced a suit against the three insolvent debtors to recover a sum exceeding six thousand dollars, and a judge of the court, upon his application, issued a process of attachment, directed to the sheriff, commanding him to attach all the property of the defendants in that action, or so much thereof as would be sufficient to satisfy the demand in the action ”

“ But we hold that the effect which these proceedings have there by the law and usage of that State was a question necessarily decided by the New York courts, and that it was decided against the claim set up by the plaintiff in error, under the constitutional provision and statute referred to, and that the case is, therefore, properly here for review.' Without reference to whether he was right or wrong, the fact that Green claimed under the judicial record of Illinois, and that his claim was overruled, was held to give this court jurisdiction. ”

“ The Massachusetts statute declares that this assignment vested in Crapo and his associates all the title and interest the insolvent had in this vessel. In other words it vested in them the absolute ownership. ”

“ A ship at sea, said he, may be transferred to a purchaser by the delivery of a bill of sale. So also as to the cargo, by the indorsement and delivery of the bill of lading. It is hardly necessary, said that great magistrate, to refer to adjudged cases to prove a doctrine so familiar in the courts, but he did refer to twelve in number, every one of which supports the proposition. ”

“ Nor can any ship or vessel be registered or enrolled unless built and owned, as therein required, and thence continuing to belong to a citizen or citizens of the United States, or ships or vessels captured from the enemy, in war, by a citizen and lawfu ly condemned as prize or adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the laws of the United States, and being wholly owned by a citizen or citizens thereof. ”