Vogler v. Rosenthal

Citations

• 85 Md. 37
• 36 A. 650
• 1897 Md. LEXIS 26

Syllabus

<p>Insolvency — Effect of Adjudication to Annul Transfers of Property Impeached by the Petition — When Preferences and Transfers must be Vacated in Equity — jurisdiction of the Insolvent Court— Withdrawal of Answer Asserting Validity of Transfer of Property by an Insolvent — Res Adjudicata — Judgment in rem.</p> <p>When a debtor is adjudicated to be insolvent upon proceedings instituted against him on the ground that certain transfers of property were made by him for the purpose of defrauding his creditors, it is an adjudication in rem which conclusively determines such transfers to be fraudulent, and it is not necessary that they should be vacated by a decree in equity.</p> <p>If the person who holds the property, alleged by the petition in involuntary insolvency to have been unlawfully transferred by the debtor, wishes to rescue the transfer from condemnation, he must interpose and make defence in the Insolvent Court, or he will be barred by the adjudication there pronounced, because that Court, having jurisdiction to determine whether the transfer was fraudulent or not, its judgment is in the nature of an adjudication in rem binding upon all parties until reversed on appeal or set aside by the tribunal that pronounced it.</p> <p>Where a transfer of property by a debtor is impeached by a proceeding in involuntary insolvency, and the grantee has an opportunity to maintain in the Insolvent Court the validity of the transfer, he will not be allowed to litigate the same question in some other forum, after having voluntarily appeared in the Insolvent Court and abandoned the case and permitted the transfer to be declared fraudulent without a contest.</p> <p>Under Code, Art. 47, sec. 24, it makes no difference whether the preferences given by an insolvent debtor appear upon the face of a written instrument, or whether they are created by a payment of money, a transfer of property or otherwise, they are all alike denounced as void, and the adjudication of the debtor to be