William Strong, Clark v. Iselin — Opinion of the Court
“ More than this, as we have seen, in order to make a judgment and execution against an insolvent debtor a preference fraudulent under the law, the debtor must have procured them with a view or intent to give a preference, and that intent must have existed when the judgment was entered. But how can a debtor be said to intend a wrongful preference at the time a judgment is obtained against him when he knows nothing of the judgment? ”
William Strong, Clark v. Iselin — Opinion of the Court
“ The debtor must be insolvent, or contemplating insolvency, when the alleged preference is given. And he must then have in view giving a preference. He must procure the attachment or the entry of the judgment, the execution, and the levy, with a present intention to prefer the creditor. The unlawful view to a preference must coexist with the procurement. It is not enough that it precedes the entry of the judgment and the levy of the execution, or that it follows. ”
William Strong, Clark v. Iselin — Opinion of the Court
“ That years before he may have contemplated the possibility that thereafter a judgment might be obtained against him; that long before he may have given a warrant of attorney to confess a judgment, or by a written confession, as in this case, have put it in the power of his creditor to cause a judgment to be entered without his knowledge or subsequent assent, is wholly impertinent to the inquiry whether he had in view or intended an unlawful preference at a later time, at the time when the creditor sees fit to cause the judgment to be entered. ”
