Ward Et Al v. Chamberlain Et Al

• Decision Date: 01 December 1862
• Citation: 2 Black 430,67 U.S. 430,17 L.Ed. 319
• Parties: WARD ET AL. v. CHAMBERLAIN ET AL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

67 U.S. 430

2 Black 430

17 L.Ed. 319

WARD ET AL. v. CHAMBERLAIN ET AL.

December Term, 1862

This case came up on a certificate of division in opinion between the Judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Ohio.

The complainants, on the 12th day of November, A. D. 1856, upon appeal from the District Court, obtained a decree in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio, against the defendants, Philo Chamberlain and John H. Crawford, in a proceeding by libel for damages sustained by the libellants by a collision on the waters of Lake Erie, between the steamer Atlantic, belonging to the libellants, and the propeller Ogdensburg, belonging to said Chamberlain and Crawford, whereby the steamer was sunk and lost:

The case was taken by appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the decree of the Circuit Court there affirmed.

On the 7th day of July, 1859, a joint decree was entered in said Circuit Court, upon the mandate of the Supreme Court, and by the agreement of the parties, against Chamberlain and Crawford, and also against the defendants, I. L. Hewitt, John H. Chamberlain and George W. McNeil, their sureties in the appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. It was stipulated and agreed between the libellants and the defendants in the last-named decree, that Philo Chamberlain and John H. Crawford, the original defendants in the libel should make certain payments periodically on account of the last-named decree, that if such payments should be punctually made, no execution should issue; but that in default of any such payment being made as required by the agreement, the complainants might thereupon proceed to collect the amount due and unpaid, as they should see fit. Two payments were made and two defaults afterwards occurred: complainants caused execution to issue upon the decree, against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the defendants therein; the Marshal found no goods or chattels whereon to levy, and for want of such goods and chattels he levied upon the lands of the defendants, situated in the Northern District of Ohio, and described in the bill. The other defendants claimed rights and interests in, and liens upon said lands. The defendants had no goods or chattels liable to execution, and no lands or tenements in the State of Ohio, other than those levied upon and described in the bill. The prayer of the bill was, for discovery, that the rights of the parties and the dates and validity of their several liens in respect of said lands might be ascertained, that the lands might be sold and the proceeds applied, so far as could of right be done, to the payment of the amount due, and for general relief.

To this bill the defendants filed a general demurrer.

A hearing was had on the questions raised by the demurrer in the Circuit Court at the July Term, 1860, and the opinions of the Judges being opposed, the questions were certified to this Court for decision.

The points of law upon which the Circuit Court divided are distinctly set forth by Mr. Justice Clifford in the opinion of this Court.

Mr. Newberry, of Ohio, for Complainants.

Mr. Spalding, of Ohio, for Defendants.

Mr. Justice CLIFFORD.

This is a bill in equity, and the case comes before the Court on a certificate of division in opinion between the Judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Ohio. According to the transcript the bill of complaint sets forth that the complainants, on the 12th day of November, 1856, upon appeal from the District Court of the United States, obtained a decree in the Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio for the sum of $36,000 against the two respondents first named, in a proceeding by libel, filed in the District Court on the 27th day of October, 1852, for damages sustained, as alleged in the libel, by means of a collision on the waters of Lake Erie, between the steamer Atlantic, belonging to the libellants, and the propeller Ogdensburg, belonging to the aforesaid respondents, whereby the steamer was sunk and lost. Complainants also allege that the case was taken by appeal to this Court, and that the decree of the Circuit Court was here affirmed; that on the 7th day of July, 1859, when the mandate of this Court was received and filed in the Circuit Court, a joint decree, by the agreement of the parties, was entered there against the original respondents and their sureties on the appeal to this Court; that the parties to the last named decree stipulated and agreed between themselves that the original respondents should make certain payments at stated times on account of the decree, and that if such payments were regularly and punctually made, no execution should issue on the decree, but that they also stipulated and agreed that in default of any such payment as required by the agreement, the complainants might thereupon proceed to collect the amount due and unpaid as they should see fit.

They also allege that two payments of $1,000 each were duly made under the stipulation and agreement, but that the aforesaid respondents subsequently made default, and when a second default had occurred, the complainants caused execution to issue upon the last named decree against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the respondents in that decree, and delivered the same to the Marshal, and that the Marshal, finding no goods or chattels of the execution debtors, and for want of such, levied the execution upon certain parcels of land belonging to them, situated in the Northern District of Ohio, and which are particularly described in the bill of complaint. Rights and interests in, and liens upon the lands are claimed by the other respondents, as the complainants allege, in regard to which they, the complainants, are not particularly advised; and they also allege that the respondents owned the lands levied upon and described in the bill of complaint at and before the time of the rendition of the first named decree, and have so owned the same ever since that time, and that they have no other lands or tenements in the State, and have no goods or chattels liable to execution.

Prayer of the bill of complaint is for discovery, and that the rights of the parties and the dates and validity of their several liens in respect of the lands may be ascertained, and that the lands may be sold and the proceeds applied so far as can of right be done, to the payment of the amount due upon the decrees and for general relief. To the bill of complaint the respondents in the decrees demurred and the complainants joined in demurrer, thereupon the following questions of law occurred before the Court, in regard to which the opinions of the Judges of the Court were opposed.

1. Whether either of the decrees was a lien upon the real estate of the respondents therein who owned such real estate as aforesaid.

2. Whether an execution can be issued upon a decree in admiralty in Ohio against the lands of the respondents, they having no goods and chattels liable to execution to satisfy the same.

3. Whether the issuing and levying of the execution in this case, as aforesaid, were not nullities, and whether the levy of the execution in anywise bound the lands upon which the same was levied.

4. Whether real estate can be reached by proceedings in chancery to satisfy a decree in admiralty in Ohio, where the respondent has no goods or chattels liable to execution.

I. Provision is made by the Act of the 29th of April, 1802, that whenever any question shall occur before a Circuit Court, upon which the opinions of the Judges shall be opposed, the point upon which the disagreement may happen, shall, during the same term, upon the request of either party or their counsel, be stated under the direction of the Judges, and certified under the seal of the Court, to the Supreme Court at their next session to be held thereafter, and shall by the said Court be finally decided. 2 Stat. at Large, 156. Such certificate, as has repeatedly been held by this Court, brings nothing before this Court for its consideration but the points or questions certified, as required by the 6th section of the act. Defective certificates are sometimes sent up, but in such case the Court uniformly refuses to certify any opinion, and remands the cause for further proceedings, holding, under all circumstances, that nothing can come before this Court, under that provision, except such single definite questions as shall actually arise and become the subject of disagreement in the Court below, and be duly certified here for decision. Ogle vs. Lee, (2 Cran., 33); Perkins vs. Hart's Exr., (11 Whea., 237); Kennedy et al. vs. Georgia State Bank, (8 How., p. 611.) All suggestions, therefore, respecting any supposed informality in the decree, or irregularities in the proceedings of the suit, are obviously premature and out of place, and may well be dismissed without further remark; because no such inquiries are involved in the points certified, and by all the decisions of this Court matters not so certified are not before the Court for its consideration, but remain in the Court below to be determined by the Circuit Judges. Wayman vs. Southard, (10 Whea., 21); Saunders vs. Gould, (4 Pet., 392.) Such other matters, undoubtedly, may be brought here for revision by another certificate of division in an opinion like the present, or by an appeal after final judgment, but nothing of the kind is here now for the consideration of the Court.

II. Recurring to the questions certified in the transcript, it is obvious that the first three involve the same general considerations, and present the important inquiries—1. Whether a decree in admiralty for the payment of money, rendered in a Federal Court, in a suit in personam under the circumstances stated, is a lien upon the lands of the respondents in the decree, and, if so, then—2. Whether an execution issued on the same may,...