Smith v. Woolfolk

Citations

• 115 U.S. 143
• 5 S. Ct. 1177
• 29 L. Ed. 357
• 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1826

Syllabus

<p>In a suit in equity brought by creditors of a deceased person against his administrator, for the settlement of his estate, a decree was made ordering a sale of his estate and the distribution of the proceeds. This was .done, and the receiver reported his doing to the court. The report was confirmed, and the receiver was ordered to retain a small balance remaining as his compensation : Held, that this was a final decree settling the rights of the parties and disposing of the whole cause of-aetion, and that one of the complainants could not reopen it for the purpose of obtaining relief in that suit against a co-complainant.</p> <p>After a decree disposing of the issues and in accordance with the prayer of a bill it is not competent for one of the parties without service of new process, or appearance, to institute further proceedings on new issues and for new objects, although connected with the subject matter of the original ■ litigation, by merely giving the new proceedings the title of the original cause.</p> <p>To bar a suit for the for.eelQsure of a mortgage in Arkansas, there must not only be an adverse possession for such length of time as would bar an action in ejectment, but an open and notorious denial of the mortgagee’s title: otherwise the possession of the mortgagor is the possession of the mortgagee.</p>