Pennington v. Fourth National Bank of Cincinnati

Citations

• 243 U.S. 269
• 37 S. Ct. 282
• 61 L. Ed. 713
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 2112

Syllabus

<p>The power’of the States to seize tangible and intangible property and apply it to satisfy the obligations of absent owners is not obstructed by the Federal Constitution.</p> <p>The power is the same whether the obligation sought to be enforced be admitted or contested, liquidated or unliquidated, inchoate or mature.</p> <p>The only essentials to its exercise are the presence of the res, its seizure at the commencement of proceedings, and the opportunity of the owner to be heard.</p> <p>Where these essentials exist, a decree for alimony will be valid under the same circumstances and to the same extent as a judgment on a debt, i. e., valid, as a charge upon the property seized. So held, where the property was the divorced husband’s bank account.</p> <p>. Property not subject to attachment at la,. may be reached in equity;' an injunction entered at the commencement of proceedings for divorce and alimony fnay operate as a seizure, in the nature of a garnishment, of defendant’s account in bank.</p>