Wait S. Frederick - A Treatise on Fraudulent Conveyances and Creditors Bills: With a Discussion of Void and Voidable Acts

Fraudulent Conveyances and Creditors' Bills

A Treatise on Fraudulent Conveyances and Creditors' Bills,

With a Discussion of

Void and Voidable Acts

BY

FREDERICK S. WAIT

OF THE NEW YORK BAR.

Washington, D.C.

Copyright 1884 by Frederick S. Wait

Reprinted 2000 by Beard Books, Washington, D.C.

ISBN 1-58798-001-0
ISBN 9781587983214 (e-book)

Printed in the United States of America

PREFACE.

RECENT innovations in civil procedure have effected important changes in the remedies of creditors in proceedings instituted to convert equitable assets or to reach property fraudulently alienated or held under a secret trust for the debtor. The aim of this treatise is to furnish suitors with a practical guide in this class of litigation. The earlier statutes and decisions concerning fraudulent alienations to defeat creditors have been noticed; the debtor's rights and interests in property available to creditors have been considered; and the different forms of remedies or of procedure which may be invoked either at law or in equity; the status essential to entitle a creditor to maintain a bill; questions of parties, complainant and defendant; of pleading; the form and effect of the judgment; and the rules regulating provisional relief, reimbursement and subrogation, have been treated, the discussion embracing both chancery practice and the reformed procedure.

The discussion, however, has not been limited to the details of practice or procedure. Chapters have been devoted to the subjects of intention, consideration and indicia of fraud; to the important questions relating to change of possession, and generally to evidence and defenses as appertaining to these suits. The rules applicable to frauds upon creditors springing out of the relationship of husband and wife, and relative to covinous general assignments and fraudulent chattel mortgages, have been examined, and the doctrine of spendthrift trusts discussed. Special pains have been taken in the treatment of the law of notice, actual and constructive, as applied to our subject.

One of the chief aims of a work of this kind is to bring side by side the decisions in different States upon kindred questions and construing similar statutes. Federal authorities have been frequently quoted, cited and relied upon, because more universally accredited, and in pursuance of a belief that such a policy tends to render the body of our law more symmetrical and harmonious. Still, the great mass of the decisions collated and discussed, has been drawn from the courts of last resort in the various States.

It is needless to repeat the criticisms advanced in the body of the work upon the tendency manifested in certain authorities to close some of the sources of relief formerly available to complainants. The creditor's power to imprison the debtor or inflict personal punishment upon him, and coerce payment in that way, is practically destroyed; hence, we urge, remedies against property rights and interests should be strengthened and perfected. A policy under which a debtor can enjoy "a beneficial interest in property by such a title that creditors cannot touch it" is not to be encouraged or commended.

The chapters devoted to Void and Voidable Acts do not entirely reflect the author's original design. The lack of available space, the pressure and anxiety incident to active practice, and other causes, necessitated the publication of that portion of the work in its present compressed form. The topic was suggested by the main discussion (see 408), and is believed to be not wholly out of place in this volume.

NEW YORK, May, 1884.

CONTENTS.

INDEX

TABLE OF CASES.

[References are to pages.]

Abbot v. Johnson, .

Abbott v. Draper, .

v. Goodwin, .

v. Tenney, .

v. Wood, .

Abercrombie v. Bradford, .

Abney v. Kingsland, .

Acer v. Westcott, .

Acker v. White, .

Ackerman v. Hunsicker, .

Ackley v. Dygert, .

Ackworth v. Kempe, .

Adair v. Brimmer, .

Adams v. Davidson, .

Addington v. Etheridge, .

Addison v. Bowie, .

Adee v. Bigler, .

Adler v. Ecker, .

v. Fenton, .

Adsit v. Butler, .

v. Sanford, .

tna Nat. Bank v. Fourth Nat. Bank, .

Ager v. Murray, .

Agricultural Ins. Co. v. Barnard, .

Albany City Bank v. Schermerhorn, .

Alden v. Gregory, .

Aldrich v. Earle, .

Aldridge v. Muirhead, .

Alexander, In re, .

v. Caldwell, .

v. Crittenden, .

v. Nelson, .

v. Quigley, .

v. Todd, .

Allan v. McTavish, .

Allen v. Berry, .

v. Berryhill, .

v. Booker, .

v. Center Valley Co..

v. Cowan, .

v. Inhabitants of Jay, .

v. Kennedy, .

Allen v. Kinyon, .

v. Massey, .

v. Minor, .

v. Montgomery, .

v. Mower, .

v. Poole, .

v. Smith, .

v. Thomas, .

v. Vestal, .

Allentown Bank v. Beck, .

Alley v. Connell, .

Allis T. Billings, .

Allison v. Hagan, .

v. Weller, .

Allore v. Jewell, .

Allyn v. Thurston, .

Alnutt v. Leper, .

Alsager v. Rowley, .

Alston v. Rowles, .

Alsworth v. Cordtz, .

Alton v. Harrison, .

Amer. Exch. Bank v. Inloes, .

Amer. Union Tel. Co. v. Middleton, .

Ames v. Blunt, .

v. Gilmore, .

Amherst's Trusts, In re, .

Ammon's Appeal, .

Amsden v. Manchester, .

Anderson v. Bradford, .

v. Brooks, .

v. Dunn, .

v. Radcliffe, .

v. Reed, .

v. Roberts, .

v. Wheeler, .

Andrews v. Jones, .

v. Marshall, .

v. Rowan, .

v. Spurlin, .

Andruss v. Doolittle, .

Angel v. McLellan, .

Angier v. Ash, .

Annin v. Annin, .

Anonymous (.

Anonymous (I Wall. Jr. 113), .

Antelope (The), .

Anthony v. Hutchins, .

v. Stype, .

v. Wade, .

v. Wilson, .

Anthracite Ins. Co. v. Sears, .

Apperson v. Burgett, .

Appleton v. Warner, .

Arbourn v. Anderson, .

Archibald v. Thomas, .

Arglasse v. Muschamp, .

Armfield v. Armfield, .

Armington v. Rau, .

Armitage v. Widoe, .

Armour v. Mich. Cent. R. R. Co., .

Armstrong v. Sanford, .

v. Scott, .

v. Toler, .

Arnholt v. Hartwig, .

Arnold v. Arnold, .

v. Richmond Iron Works, .

Arnwine v. Carroll, .

Arthur v. Commercial & R. R. Bank,

Arundel v. Trevillian, .

Ashcroft v. Walworth, .

Ashfield v. Ashfield, .

Ashhurst v. Given, .

Ashhurst's Appeal, .

Ashlin v. Langton, .

Ashmead v. Hean, .

Ashmole v. Wainwright, .

Aspinall v. Jones, .

Astley v. Reynolds, .

Astor v. Wells, .

Athey v. Knotts, .

Atkins v. Kinnan, .

Atlantic Nat. Bank v. Tavener, .

Att'y Gen'l v. Brown, .

v. Corporation of Poole, .

v. Cradock, .

v. Day, .

Atwood v. Impson, .

Auburn Exch. Bank v. Fitch, .

Aurand v. Schaffer, .

Austin v. Barrows, .

v. Charlestown Seminary, .

v. Winston, .

Avery v. Hackley, .

v. Johann, .

v. Judd, .

v. Street, .

Ayres v. Husted, .