Hardeman v. Anderson/Opinion of the Court

by John McLean

United States Supreme Court

45 U.S. 640

Hardeman  v.  Anderson

WM. AND D. HARDEMAN AND WM. P. PERKINS, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR, v. EDWARD ANDERSON.

On consideration of the motion made in this cause on a prior day of the present term of this court, to wit, on Friday the 9th instant, by Mr. Crittenden, of counsel for the plaintiffs in error, for a writ of supersedeas to stay execution on the judgment below in this cause, and of the arguments of counsel thereupon had, as well against as in support of the motion, it is the opinion of this court that a supersedeas should be allowed, under the general powers conferred upon this court by the fourteenth section of the act of the 24th of September, 1789, leaving the question, whether a writ of error will lie to the judgment in this case, an open one. Whereupon it is now here considered and ordered by this court, that a writ of supersedeas be and the same is hereby awarded, commanding the judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi to stay any execution or proceedings on the judgment of the said Circuit Court in this case pending this writ of error, and also command the marshal of the United States for the said district that from every and all proceedings on execution or in any wise molesting the said plaintiffs in error on account of the said judgment, he entirely surcease, the same being superseded.

26th January, 1846.

The President of the United States of America to the Honorable the Judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi, and to the Marshal of the United States for the said District, Greeting:

[SEAL.]

Whereas, lately, in the said Circuit Court before you, the said judges, or some of you, in a cause lately pending in said court between Edward Anderson, plaintiff, and William Hardeman and D. Hardeman, defendants, a judgment was rendered by the said Circuit Court, at the May term, 1839, of said court, in favor of the said plaintiff, and against the said defendants, for the sum of $8,293.45, with interest thereon at the rate of eight per centum per annum, together with costs and charges of suit, on which judgment an execution of fieri facias issued, and was levied by the marshal of said district on certain property of said defendants, which property was left in the hands of the defendants upon their executing a forthcoming bond, with one W. P. Perkins as security, and which forthcoming bond was returned by the said marshal to the said Circuit Court at the next November term thereof, A. D. 1839, 'Forfeited,' having thereby, according to the laws of Missisippi, the force and effect of a judgment against the said defendants and the said security for the aforesaid debt, interest, and costs, and upon which last-mentioned judgment an execution of fieri facias was issued against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements, of the said William Hardeman, D. Hardeman, and W. P. Perkins, for the amount of the said judgment, interest, and costs, as aforesaid, as also for the sum of $133.81 additional costs subsequently accruing; upon which execution, the aforesaid marshal returned that he had received thereon '$9,125 in Union money, or post notes of the Union Bank,' which said return of the marshal last aforesaid the said Circuit Court, at a subsequent term, to wit, on the 20th of May, A. D. 1840, set aside, and awarded an alias fieri facias on the judgment last aforesaid. Whereupon, the said Wm. Hardeman, D. Hardeman, and W. P. Perkins sued out a writ of error in due form of law and in proper time, and filed their bond in error, with sufficient security approved by one of the judges of the said Circuit Court, so as to operate per se as a supersedeas, and which said writ of error was abated and quashed by the order of this court on the 28th day of February, A. D. 1845, by virtue of the forty-third rule of court, in consequence of the failure of the aforesaid plaintiffs in error to file a transcript of the record of the case with the clerk of this court, and to have their case docketed, in compliance with the rules of court. Whereupon, the aforesaid plaintiffs in error sued out another writ of error in due form of law, filed their bond in error in a sum double the amount of the aforesaid judgment, with sufficient security approved by one of the judges of the aforesaid Circuit Court, and a citation having been regularly taken out, served upon the defendant in error, and duly returned, as by the inspection of the transcript of the record of the said Circuit Court, which was brought into the Supreme Court of the United States by virtue of said writ of error, agreeably to the act of Congress in such case made and provided, fully and at large appears. And whereas, in the present term of December, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-five, it is made to appear, on affidavit to the said Supreme Court of the United States, that the failure of the aforesaid plaintiffs in error to file the transcript of the record and docket the writ of error first aforesaid mentioned, and which operated, per se, as a supersedeas, was not owing to any neglect or fault on their part, but wholly attributable to the neglect of the clerk of the said Circuit Court to make out in due time, and as requested by the said plaintiffs in error, a transcript of the record, as alleged in said affidavit, and that in consequence thereof they are exposed to an execution on the aforesaid judgment. It is thereupon now here ordered by this court, that a writ of supersedeas be, and the same is, hereby awarded, to be directed to the aforesaid marshal, commanding and enjoining him and his deputies to stay any and all proceedings upon any execution which may have been issued on the aforesaid judgment of the said Circuit Court in said case, and which has or may come to his hands, and that he return any such execution with the writ of supersedeas to the said Circuit Court, and that the judges of the said Circuit Court cause any such writ of execution to be stayed, and to stay any execution or further proceedings of every kind and character on the judgment of the said Circuit Court in this case, pending the aforesaid writ of error in this court.

You, therefore, the Marshal of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi, are hereby commanded, that from every and all proceedings on any execution on the aforesaid judgment, or in any wise molesting the said defendants on the account aforesaid, you entirely surcease, as being superseded, and that you do forthwith return any such execution in your hands, together with this supersedeas, to the said Circuit Court, as you will answer the contrary at your peril. And you, the judges of the said Circuit Court, are hereby commanded to stay any execution which may have issued as aforesaid, and to stay any execution or further proceedings on the aforesaid judgment of the said Circuit Court in this case, pending the writ of error last aforesaid in this court.

Witness the Honorable ROGER B. TANEY, Chief Justice of said Supreme Court, this 27th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

WM. THOS.C.ARROLL, Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States.

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