In re Appel

163 F. 1002
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedAugust 13, 1908
DocketNo. 756
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 163 F. 1002 (In re Appel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Appel, 163 F. 1002 (1st Cir. 1908).

Opinion

DO WERE, Circuit Judge.

Majer Appel was adjudged a bankrupt January 23, 1905, and thereafter McPeck was elected his trustee. On July 26, 1906, McPeck filed a petition in the District Court, setting out that the bankrupt had fraudulently concealed from the trustee a considerable sum of money belonging to the bankrupt estate; that the bankrupt was a resident of Adams, within the district of Massachusetts, at the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings; “that thereafter, and while said proceedings were still pending, said Appel removed to the state of New York, and that he has not since been a resident of Adams, but has continued to keep within the said state of New York; * * * that said Majer Appel is now within the jurisdiction of this court, but * * * is about to remove from the jurisdiction of the court, and has no intention of remaining within said jurisdiction, and that his removal from the jurisdiction will endanger the amount due from said Majer Appel to your petitioner. Wherefore [1003]*1003your petitioner prays that a writ of ne exeat may issue for the arrest of said Majer Appel.” The writ issued on the same day, and the bankrupt was duly arrested thereupon. On July 27th, he obtained his liberty by executing before a commissioner the following instrument:

“Kocognizanee for Appearance.
[Filed July 30, 1906.]
“Unitod States of America, District of Massachusetts, ss.- — City of Pittsfield.
“Be it remembered that on this twenty-seventh day of July A. D. 1906, before me, a commissioner duly appointed by the District Court of the United States for the said District of Massachusetts, personally came Majer Appel of Brooklyn in the State of New York and David Appel of the city, couni.y and State of New York, and jointly and severally acknowledged themselves to owe the United States of America the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, to be levied on their goods and chattels, lands and tenements, if default be made in the condition following, to wit:—
“The condition of this recognizance is such, that if the said Majer Appel will not go or attempt to go into parts beyond the jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts without the leave of said court or until further order of said court, and then and there abide the judgment of the said court, and not depart from said district without leave, then this recognizance to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.
Majer Appel. [Seal.]
“David Appel. [Seal.]
“Taken and acknowledged before me on the day and year first above written.
“[Seal.] Arthur H. Wood,
•'Commissioner of the United States for the District of Massachusetts.
“United States of America, District of Massachusetts, ss.—
“David Appel, a surety on the annexed recognizance, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he resides at 248 Bast 7th Street, in the city of New York, that he is a freeholder in the city of Brooklyn, New York, that he is worih the sum of three thousand dollars, over and above all his just debts and liabilities, in property subject to execution and sale, and that his property consists of real estate in said Brooklyn. David Appel has deposited with me two thousand five hundred dollars in cash as bail money.
“[Affiant’s Signature] David Appel.
“Sworn to and subscribed before me, this twenty-seventh day of July, A. D. 1906.
“[Seal.] Arthur H. Woods,
“Commissioner of the United States for the District of-—

The deposit oí $2,500 was later handed over by the commissioner to the clerk of the District Court.

On March 12, 1907, the judge of the District Court affirmed the order of the referee directing the bankrupt to turn over to the trustee $6,000. On April 29, 1907, the trustee filed a petition in the District Court, alleging the arrest and release of the bankrupt, that the bankrupt liad “committed various breaches of said bond,” and “that demand had been made upon said surety for the penal sum of said bond, and the money deposited in the clerk’s office.” The trustee, therefore, prayed that tiie sum of $2,500 might be ordered to be paid by the clerk of the District Court to the petitioner as trustee in bankruptcy. There was a hearing in the District Court, at which both the bankrupt and the surety were present. The decree recited “that no breach of the conditions of said bond had been committed, as more fully appears in the opinion of llie court,” and it denied the petition. On reference to [1004]*1004the opinion of the learned judge, we find that he ruled as matter of law that the absence of the bankrupt from the district from time to time after the bond was given did not amount to a breach of the bond. This was the ground upon which the trustee’s petition was dismissed. The record, as presented to this court, is informal in several respects, but it appears generally, and both counsel are agreed, that this court must first answer the following question: Was the learned judge of the District Court right in ruling that the bond given for the bankrupt’s release was in effect a bail bond, binding him only to abide the decrees and orders of the District Court when rendered, and in other respects leaving him free to absent himself from the court’s jurisdiction? The trustee contended, in accordance with the wording of the bond, that it was conditioned upon his remaining constantly within the jurisdiction.

An examination of the practice of the English Court of Chancery, as set out in the decided cases and in accepted text-books, leads us to the conclusion that the bond should receive its grammatical construction, and that it binds the bankrupt not to go into parts beyond the jurisdiction without leave of the court of bankruptcy. Musgrave v. Medex, 1 Mer. 49; Utten v. Utten, 1 Mer. 51; 2 Dan. Ch. Pr. (6th Am. Ed.) p. 1712. This rule has peculiar application to the case of a bankrupt who is required by the general scheme of the bankruptcy act to be constantly on hand in' order that he may assist the trustee in his administration of the estate. *

We hold the decree of the District Court erroneous and reverse it, because it sets out that the bankrupt’s absence from Massachusetts was not a breach of the bond. We hold that this absence was a breach of the bond, but we recognize that weighty courts have held that, while a bond given to procure the release of one arrested under a writ of neexeat regno differs from an ordinary bail bond in requiring the constant presence of the principal within the jurisdiction, yet the chief object of the two obligations is the same, viz., to obtain security that the-principal shall abide (not perform) any decree which the court may render against him. 14 Enc. PL & Prac. p. 320. The penal sum of the-bond in the case at bar is already in the disposition of the District Court. In Harris v. Hardy, 3 Hill, 393, the Supreme Court of New York said:

“If the defendant leave the state' without permission, an order will be-granted directing his sureties to pay the money into court, or, in default thereof, that a suit be brought upon the bond.

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Bluebook (online)
163 F. 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-appel-ca1-1908.