Chase v. Searles

45 N.H. 511
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedDecember 15, 1864
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 45 N.H. 511 (Chase v. Searles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chase v. Searles, 45 N.H. 511 (N.H. 1864).

Opinion

Bellows, J.

This is in form a supplemental'bill, and it states the filing of the original bill, and that on it the defendant Searles was call[512]*512edupon, among other things, for a full disclosure and statement, under oath, of all his conveyances of property for ten years next before the filing of the bill; that, since the bill was filed, the defendant Searles has made conveyances severally to the new defendants, of sundry parcels of property, with the knowledge, on the part of such new defendants, of the pendency of said bill; and praying that such conveyances may be declared void and the property remain subject to any decree that may be made in the original suit.

To this supplemental bill the new defendants severally demur and each assigns as causes of demurrer:

1. That the supplemental bill is exhibited against these defendants for several distinct matters and causes, in many of which, as appears by the bill, some of such defendants were in no way interested.

2. That the supplemental bill does not set forth the original bill,nor such substantial and material parts thereof as give the information necessary to enable the defendants to answer thereto.

3. That the matters and things introduced by the supplemental bill being subsequent in date to the filing of the said original bill, and material for the original defendant to answer, yet is not said original defendant made party to the supplemental bill and th erefore cannot render answer thereto.

4. That the original and supplemental bills are in other respects defective and insufficient.

In addition to these causes of demurrer, Artemas TV. Stearns, one of the new defendants, assigns as a cause the following : Because, as to the said note for ten thousand dollars said to be due from T. TV. Gillis, it appears by the said supplemental bill that this defendant Stearns does not reside in this State, that no service has been made on him in this State, nor does it appear that the said T. TV Gillis resides in this State, or has any property in this State, and therefore the court has no jurisdiction of the person of this defendant, nor over the said note for ton thousand dollars, or the said T. TV. Gillis.

In addition to these causes of demurrer, another has been assigned at the hearing, on terms. It is, in substance, the want of equity, even regarding the allegations in the original bill, which is referred to as part of the supplemental bill, and this cause of demurrer having been fully argued at the bar, we propose first to examine it, as its disposition may have some bearing upon other causes of demurrer specially assigned.

The original bill sets out the recovery by the plaintiff’s -intestate of a judgment against James Searles, the original defendant, the issue of execution thereon, its delivery to a deputy of the sheriff for service, and its return wholly unsatisfied for want of property of the said debtor ; alleging that said Searles, at and before said judgment and execution, was possessed of divers parcels of real and personal estate and things in action, and that said real and personal estate and things in action have been granted, transferred, conveyed, assigned, concealed, mortgaged, pledged, sold and arranged by the said defendant Searles, so that satis[513]*513faction of said debt could not be obtained by ordinary process of law. Whereupon the plaintiff, in said original bill, asks for discovery of such property and things in action, and that payment of the said judgment maybe decreed therefrom.

After answer by the original defendant, this supplemental bill was filed against parties to whom grants and transfers of such property and things in action were alleged to have been made since the filing of the original bill.

Upon this latter cause of demurrer, the question raised and argued by counsel is, whether, by the commencement of the original suit, the plaintiff had acquired a lien, or a priority or preference, in respect to the assets of the judgment debtor. The jfiaintiff comes into this court upon the ground, that, having obtained a judgment against the original defendant, taken out, and delivered to the sheriff' an execution thereon, which was returned unsatisfied for want of property, he has exhausted his remedies at law, and therefore seeks the aid of equity. To such aid he is clearly entitled, not only upon general principles of equity jurisdiction, but by the express provisions of the act of July 2, 1845, ch. 234, (C. S. p. 436, secs. 19 and 20.)

That statute provides that any creditor, whose execution has been returned unsatisfied, may bring his bill .in equity against the debtor, and "any other person, to compel the discovery of any property, money, or thing in' action due to him, or held in trust for him; and to prevent the transfer of any such property, money, or thing in action, or the payment or delivery thereof to the defendant”; and section second pro rides that the "court shall have power to compel such discovery, and to prevent such transfer, payment, or delivery, and to decree satisfaction of the sum remaining due on such judgment, out of any money, property, or things in action belonging to the defendant or held in trust for him” (with certain exceptions not necessary to be stated,) "which shall be discovered by the proceedings in chancery,whether the same were originally liable to be taken in execution at law or not.”

This is understood to be a substantial copy of the New York statute of 1829, except that in the latter the term property is qualified by the word "personal” prefixed, so that the jurisdiction of courts of equi ty there, under that statute, would seem to be confined to personal property. However, it appears that the jurisdiction of that court had been well established long before that statute, and in the broadest terms; and, both before and since, courts of equity have been in the constant habit of decreeing satisfaction out of equitable interests in real estate, such as equities of redemption and the like. Farnham v. Campbell, 10 Paige Ch. 601; Storm v. Waddell, 2 Sandf. Ch. Rep. 510 and 514; McDermott v. Strong, 4 Johns. Ch. 687. So, in New Hampshire, the same jurisdiction was held to exist before the passage of our statute of 1845. Tappan v. Evans, 11 N. H. 327; Bay State Iron Co. v. Goodall, 39 N. H. 223.

It is clear, then, that, neither in New York nor New Hampshire, did the statute confer any new jurisdiction so far as respects the right to discovery and relief out of the equitable assets of the debtor; and it is [514]*514probable, that, in both States, the law was passed to remove any doubts that might be supposed to exist in regard to the power, or some branch of it.

The question then is, whether, by bringing such suit in equity without any previous lien, and without specifying any particular property, the creditor,under our laws, acquires a lien upon all or any of the debt- or’s assets.

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Bluebook (online)
45 N.H. 511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chase-v-searles-nh-1864.