The plaintiff below, a citizen of the State of Kentucky,
instituted a suit against the defendant, a citizen of Louisiana,
for the recovery of a debt incurred in 1808, and the defendant
pleaded his discharge by the bankrupt law of Louisiana in 1811,
under which, according to the provisions of the law, "as well his
person as his future effects" were forever discharged "from all the
claims of his creditors." Under this law, the plaintiff, whose debt
was specified in the list of the defendant's creditors, received a
dividend of ten percent on his debt, declared by the assignees of
the defendant.
Held that the plaintiff, by voluntarily
making himself a party to those proceedings, abandoned his
extra-territorial immunity from the operation of the bankrupt law
of Louisiana, and was bound by that law to the same extent to which
the citizens of Louisiana were bound.
The plaintiff in error having died while the cause was held
under advisement, the judgment was entered
nunc pro tunc,
as on the first day of this term.
This case was argued at January term, 1828, by Mr. Livingston,
and was held under advisement until this term on the suggestion of
counsel and for information upon the law of the State of Louisiana
referred to in the opinion of the Court.
MR. JUSTICE JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case comes up from the Louisiana District, by writ of error
to reverse a judgment obtained there by
Smith v. Clay.
Smith is a citizen of Kentucky, and Clay of Louisiana, and the
action was brought to recover a debt incurred in the year 1808.
Clay's defense rests upon the validity of a discharge obtained
in a court of the state under a law of the state in the year 1811.
The plea sets out his petition to the court, his surrender of his
effects, the schedule of his debts, in which Smith's debt is
specified, as also the payment to him of ten percent, the dividend
declared by the assignees of
Page 28 U. S. 412
the bankrupt, and the judgment of the court, rendered in
pursuance of the consent of more than a majority of his creditors
in number and amount, that he be discharged, "as well his person as
his future effects, from all the claims of his creditors." The
language of the plea is
"upon which said petition, the usual proceedings being had
thereon, the said plaintiff and other creditors and said defendant
being parties thereto, the said supreme court by their final decree
pronounced in the premises, on 15 June, 1811, declared the said
defendant, as well his person as his subsequently acquired property
and effects, forever released from all claims, debts, and
demands,"
&c., previously due.
This plea is demurred to, and thus the question is raised
whether Smith, by voluntarily making himself party to such
proceedings, has not abandoned his extra-territorial immunity from
the operation of the bankrupt laws of Louisiana.
We are of opinion that he did, and was bound by the decision of
the state court to the same extent to which the citizens of that
state were bound.
Judgment reversed.
Case remanded with instructions to enter judgment for defendant
there. And in consequence of the death of Clay, while the cause was
held under advisement, that it be entered
nunc pro tunc as
on the first day of this term.
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the District Court of the United States for the District of
Louisiana, and was argued by counsel, on consideration whereof it
is ordered and adjudged by this Court that the judgment of the said
district court in this cause be and the same is hereby reversed,
and that the cause be and the same is remanded to the said district
court with instructions to the said court to enter judgment for
John Clay, the defendant in said court. And it is further ordered
by the Court that in consequence of the death of the said Clay
while this cause was held under advisement, that judgment be
entered
nunc pro tunc as on the first day of this
term.
