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John Hagan, Plaintiff in Error v. Charles F. Lucas U.S. 400 (1836)

handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0103 and id is 1 raw text is: 400 SUPREME COURT. JoHN HAGAN, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR V. CHARLES F. LucAs. A judgment was obtained in a state court of Alabama, against B. and M., and the sheriff, under an execution issued upon the judgment, levied on certain slaves, as the property of the defendants. They were claimed by L. and were delivered to him, he having given.a bond to the sheriff to try the title, and for the forthcom- ing of the slaves, according to the.law of that state. H. had obtained a judgment against B. and M. in the district court of the United States for the district of Ala- bama, acting as a eircuit court: under an execution issued on this judgment, the marshal levied on ihe slaves, and they were claimed by L: The marshal returned that they were so claimed, upon which an issue was formed in the district court to try the title of L. to the slaves. L. gave in evidence the record f the judgment in the state court against B. and M. and the proceedings under it. Certificates of the records were given on the 4th of December 1834, and they showed that the suit, respecting the right of property in the slaves, had been continued at March term 1834,' but did not show whether any further. proceeding in the case had taken place at- the preceding spring term, of, the state court. The district court in- structed the jury, that the records of the state court were legal evidence, by which they might infer the proceedings were still depending and undetermined in the state court. Held, that the instruction was correct. Hlad the property remained in the possessiun of the sheriff, under the first levy, it is clear the marshal could not have taken it in execution, for the property could not be subject to two jurisdictions at the same time. The first levy, whether it were made under the federal or state authority, withdraws the property from the reach of the process of the other. Under the state jurisdiction, a sheriff having execution in his hands may levy on the same goods; and Where there is no priority on the sale of the goods, the proceeds should be.applied in proportion to the sums named in the executions. And where a sheriff has made a levy, and afterwards receives executions against the same nefendant, he may appropriate any surplus that shall remain, after satisfying the first levy, by the order of the court. But the same rule does not govern where the executions, as in the present case, issue from different jurisdictions. The marshal may apply moneys, collected. under several executions, the same as the sheriff. But this cannot be done as between the marshal and the-sheriff. A most injurious conflict of jurisdiction would he likely often to arise between the federal and the state courts, if the final process of the one could be levied on pro- perty-which had been taken by the process of the other. The marshal or the sheriff, 'as the case may be, by a levy, acquires a special property in the goods, and may maintain an action for them. But if the same goods maybe taken in execu- tion at the same time by the marshal and the sheriff; does this special property vest in the one or the other, or both of them.? No such case can exist: property once levied on, remains in the. custody of the law, and it is not liable to be taken by another execution, in the hands of a different officer; and especially by an offi- cer acting under a different jurisdiction.

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