Alexandria v. Fairfax
| Decision Date | 01 October 1877 |
| Parties | ALEXANDRIA v. FAIRFAX |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of Virginia.
This was an action of covenant, brought in the Circuit Court of the city of Alexandria, Va., by Orlando Fairfax, against the city council of Alexandria, to recover the principal of certain bonds, amounting in the aggregate to $8,700, with the arrearages of interest due thereon.
The following is a copy of one of the bonds:
'No. 35.]
ALEXANDRIA CORPORATION STOCK, $5,200.
'This is due from the common council of Alexandria unto Dr. Orlando Fairfax, $5,200, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the first day of July, 1858, payable half-yearly, being stock issued in pursuance of an act of the common council of Alexandria, passed on the twenty-third day of July, 1845, the principal of which is redeemable on the first day of January, in the year 1870, and is transferable only at the office of the auditor of the corporation, in person or by attorney.
'Witness the seal of the common council of Alexandria.
{Alexandria Corporation.}
'W. D. MASSEY, Mayor.
'J. H. MCVEIGH,
'President of Council.
The defence was that the stock whereof mention is made in the bonds or certificates, and all the right, title, and interest of Fairfax therein, had, with the accrued interest thereon, been condemned to confiscation and sale, under an act of Congress of July, 1862, by a decree of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Virginia, May 4, 1864, and sold by the marshal, who transferred the stock to the purchasers on the books of the auditor of the city. The council recognized this transfer as valid, and issued to the purchasers or their assigns certificates of stock of like tenor and effect. They are still outstanding, and the interest thereon has been paid to the holders of them.
Fairfax was a resident of Alexandria, until the commencement of the rebellion. He then went to Richmond, Va., where he has since resided, taking with him the said bonds or certificates of indebtedness, and he retained possession of them until he brought this suit.
The present controversy turned on the jurisdiction of the District Court. Neither Fairfax nor the city council entered an appearance to the proceedings which resulted in the decree. The order of seizure which the district attorney of the United States for the district within which the city of Alexandria is situate directed to the marshal, with the return made by the latter thereon, is set out in the opinion of this court, and is, therefore, omitted here. The Circuit Court of the city of Alexandria rendered a judgment against Fairfax, which the Supreme Court of Appeals reversed, and rendered one in his favor. The city council thereupon sued out this writ of error.
Mr. S. Ferguson Beach and Mr. Charles E. Stuart for the plaintiff in error cited Miller v. United States, 11 Wall. 268; Tyler v. Defrees, id. 331; Cooper v. Reynolds, 10 id. 308; Brown v. Kennedy, 15 id. 591; P lham v. Way, id. 196; Pelham v. Rose, 9 id. 103; Grignon's Lessee v. Astor, 2 How. 319; Voorhees v. Bank of the United States, 10 Pet. 449; Kempe's Lessee v. Kennedy, 5 Cranch, 173; Williams v. Armroyd, 7 id. 423.
Mr. John Johns, Jr., and Mr. C. W. Wattles for the defendant in error.
Orlando Fairfax, a resident of the city of Alexandria, Va., previous to the outbreak of the late civil war, was the owner of about $8,700 of the obligations of said city, which were in the form of bonds, not negotiable on their face, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, payable semiannually, and having several years to run, and transferable on the books of the corporation. These obligations were called stock of the city of Alexandria. At the beginning of the war, Fairfax left Alexandria, and joined the Confederates at the city of Richmond, and did not return until the war was over.
During his absence, proceedings were instituted to confiscate this stock, and prosecuted to a decree and sale. The marshal made a transfer of it to the purchaser, who received the interest regularly until Fairfax commenced the present suit against the city to recover the interest so paid, and establish his right to the stock.
The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia rendered judgment in his favor, and the city sued out this writ of error.
The single question which we shall consider is, whether there was such a seizure of this stock, or of Fairfax's interest in the debt which the city owed him, as gave to the District Court of the United States jurisdiction to confiscate and sell it under the act of Congress on that subject.
'ALEXANDRIA, VA., Feb. 22, 1864.
'To the Marshal of the United States for the Eastern District of Virginia.
'In compliance with general instructions, issued by the Attorney-General, under the act of July 17, 1862, entitled 'An Act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes.'
'I have to direct that you seize all the right, title, and interest of Dr. Orlando Fairfax, in and to eighty-seven shares of the stock of the corporation of Alexandria, in the eastern district of Virginia, together with all the moneys due him, and becoming due from the said corporation, for dividends upon said stock, together with all the improvements, buildings, rights, privileges, appurtenances, and other hereditaments to the same belonging, or in any wise appertaining, and all right, title, interest, and estate of Dr. Orlando Fairfax therein, as proceedings are to be instituted to secure the confiscation of the same to the use of the United States, under the above-entitled act.
'You will report the seizure to me when the same shall have been made.
'L. H. CHANDLER, U. S. District Attorney.
(Indorsed as follows:)
'UNITED STATES MARSHAL'S OFFICE,
'ALEXANDRIA, VA., Feb. 23, 1864.
'I certify that I have seized the within-described property, and given notice to R. Johnson, Esq., auditor of the corporation of Alexandria, as within directed.
'JOHN UNDERWOOD, U. S. Marshal.
'Filed Feb. 24, 1864.'
In the present suit, it is among the facts agreed to by both parties, and signed by their counsel as part of the record, that these bonds or certificates of stock were carried by Fairfax to Richmond, and remained in his personal possession during the war. It is, therefore, clear that the marshal made no manual seizure of them, and did not mean to say so by his return, unless he intended to make a false return. It is a fair and reasonable inferen e from the return and the agreed facts in this case, that what he actually did to constitute a seizure, and what he understood to constitute the seizure of this stock, was 'notice to R....
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