Security Trust Co. v. Dodd, Mead & Co.

Citations

• 173 U.S. 624
• 19 S. Ct. 545
• 43 L. Ed. 835
• 1899 U.S. LEXIS 1466

Syllabus

<p>With regard to the operation of a voluntary or common law assignment of his property by an insolvent debtor for the benefit of his creditors upon property situated in other States, there is a general consensus of opinion that it will be respected, except so far as it comes in conflict with the rights of local creditors, or with the laws or public policy of the State in which it is sought to be enforced.</p> <p>With respect to statutory assignments of. .the property of an insolvent debtor, the prevailing American doctrine is, that a conveyance under a state insolvent law operates only upon property within the territory of that State, and with respect to property in another State it is given only such effect as the laws of that State permit, and in general must give way to claims of creditors pursuing their remedies there.</p> <p>The execution and delivery by Merrill & Company to the Security and Trust Company in Minnesota of an assignment of their property for the . benefit of their.creditors, made under the insolvent laws of that State, and the acceptance thereof by the assignee and its qualification thereunder, and the notice thereof to Mudge & Sons in Massachusetts, who held personal property belonging to the said assignors, did not vest in the assignee such a'title to that property that it could not, after such notice, Die lawfully seized by attachment in an action instituted in Massachusetts by creditors of the insolvents who were citizens of New York, and who had notice of the assignment, but had not proved their claims against the assigned estate, nor filed a release thereof.</p>