United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Shields v. Schiff, 124 U.S. 351 (1888)

Shields v. Schiff

Argued November 9, 1887

Decided January 23, 1888

124 U.S. 351

Syllabus

The Confiscation Act of July 17, 1862, 12 Stat. 559, c.195, construed in connection with the joint resolution of the same day explanatory of it, 12 Stat. 627, makes no disposition of the confiscated property after the death of the owner, but leaves it to devolve to his heirs according to the lex rei sitae, and those heirs take qua heirs, and not by donation from the government.

A mortgagee, in Louisiana, under an act containing the pact de non aleiando, can proceed against the mortgagor after the latter's expropriation through confiscation proceedings, as though he had never been divested of his title.

The holder of a mortgage upon real estate in Louisiana ordered to be sold under a decree of confiscation may acquire the life interest of the mortgagor at the sale, and may possess and enjoy that title during the lifetime

Page 124 U. S. 352

of the mortgagor without extinguishing either the debt or the security, by reason of confusion as provided by the code of that state.

The heirs of a person whose property in Louisiana was sold under a decree of confiscation succeed after his death by inheritance from him, and, being in privity with him, are bound equally with him by proceedings against him on a mortgage containing the pact de non alienando.

If a mortgage debtor in Louisiana, in a suit to foreclose a mortgage containing the pact de non alienando, waives the benefit of prescription, those who take from him are estopped from pressing it as effectually as he is estopped.

The case and the federal question are stated in the opinion of the Court.