Heirs of P. F. Dubourg De St Colombe v. United States

Supreme Court

Heirs of P. F. Dubourg De St Colombe v. United States

32 U.S. 625, 8 L. Ed. 807, 7 Pet. 625, 1833 U.S. LEXIS 365

CourtSupreme Court of the United States

DecidedMarch 18, 1833

StatusPublished

Cited by19 cases

This text of 32 U.S. 625 (Heirs of P. F. Dubourg De St Colombe v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Heirs of P. F. Dubourg De St Colombe v. United States, 32 U.S. 625, 8 L. Ed. 807, 7 Pet. 625, 1833 U.S. LEXIS 365 (1833).

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Opinion

Mr Chief Justice Marshall

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The United States had obtained judgment against P. F. Dubourg de St Colombe, in his lifetime, for a large sum of money. This judgment was revived after his death; or in the law language of Louisiana, declared executory; and the property of which he died possessed, ordered to be seized and sold to satisfy the demand of the United States.

The heirs of P. F. Dubourg de St Colombe filed their bill, praying an injunction to stay proceedings at law on this judgment.

The bill alleges that the estate of their parents was held in common at the death of their mother, and that the moiety belonging to their mother descended at her death on them, and was not liable for debts, afterwards contracted by their fáther. It also alleges that they were infants, and that their father took possession of their estate, which he had wasted to an amount exceeding his effects in their hands. The law of Louisiana,' they say, gave them a lien at the death of their mother on all the estate of their father, to the extent of this waste, exempt from the claim of any subsequent creditor.

*626 Several witnesses were examined, and several documents filed to prove the amount of the estate, at the death of their mother. The accounts are complex and intricate. The judge examined them, and being of opinion that the estate was insolvent at the death of the mother, dissolved the injunction and decreed costs. This has been understood to be a final decree, and to be equivalent to dismissing the bill. The plaintiffs appealed to this court.

We are of opinion that a complex and intricate account is an unfit subject for examination in court, and ought always to be referred to a commissioner to. be examined by him and reported, in order to a final decree. To such report the parties may take any exceptions • and thus bring any question they may think proper before the court. The decree therefore is reversed, and the cause remanded to the court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana, with directions to refer the account to a commissioner, with instructions to settle and report the amount of the estate at the death of the wife, in order to a final decree; and to state such matters specially as he may think necessary, or as either party may require.

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Mr Chief Justice Marshall

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The United States had obtained judgment against P. F. Dubourg de St Colombe, in his lifetime, for a large sum of money. This judgment was revived after his death; or in the law language of Louisiana, declared executory; and the property of which he died possessed, ordered to be seized and sold to satisfy the demand of the United States.

The heirs of P. F. Dubourg de St Colombe filed their bill, praying an injunction to stay proceedings at law on this judgment.

The bill alleges that the estate of their parents was held in common at the death of their mother, and that the moiety belonging to their mother descended at her death on them, and was not liable for debts, afterwards contracted by their fáther. It also alleges that they were infants, and that their father took possession of their estate, which he had wasted to an amount exceeding his effects in their hands. The law of Louisiana,' they say, gave them a lien at the death of their mother on all the estate of their father, to the extent of this waste, exempt from the claim of any subsequent creditor.

*626 Several witnesses were examined, and several documents filed to prove the amount of the estate, at the death of their mother. The accounts are complex and intricate. The judge examined them, and being of opinion that the estate was insolvent at the death of the mother, dissolved the injunction and decreed costs. This has been understood to be a final decree, and to be equivalent to dismissing the bill. The plaintiffs appealed to this court.

We are of opinion that a complex and intricate account is an unfit subject for examination in court, and ought always to be referred to a commissioner to. be examined by him and reported, in order to a final decree. To such report the parties may take any exceptions • and thus bring any question they may think proper before the court. The decree therefore is reversed, and the cause remanded to the court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana, with directions to refer the account to a commissioner, with instructions to settle and report the amount of the estate at the death of the wife, in order to a final decree; and to state such matters specially as he may think necessary, or as either party may require.

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32 U.S. 625, 8 L. Ed. 807, 7 Pet. 625, 1833 U.S. LEXIS 365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heirs-of-p-f-dubourg-de-st-colombe-v-united-states-scotus-1833.

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