31 Wis. 607 | Wis. | 1872
The questions raised upon the record are highly interesting and important, and have not, so far as we know,' ever been passed upon by the supreme court of the United States. We have, therefore, given them all the consideration which our limited time and duty to other causes enabled us to bestow upon them ; and I am now to announce the conclusions at which we have arrived upon the questions presented for our decision.
In support of the demurrer the counsel for the defendants insist, that the jurisdiction conferred by the bankrupt law upon the several district and circuit courts of the United States is, in its nature, necessarily exclusive of the state courts; and that, even if the state courts had jurisdiction concurrently with the federal courts in suits in relation to the property of the bankrupt, they should not exert that jurisdiction in a case like the one before us.
The objections to holding that the state courts had jurisdiction of the cause appeared to me on the argument to be grave, if not insuperable; and all the reflection I have been able to give the subject since has not lessened their weight. One of the most obvious and direct results of the state courts assuming jurisdiction, of course, is to withdraw from the United States
But even if I had any doubt about this being the proper con
The first clause of the thirty-fifth section of the bankrupt law was obviously designed to defeat and render void any transfers or sales of property made by a debtor, being insolvent or in contemplation of insolvency, with a view to give a preference to a creditor. And it provides that any payment, transfer or conveyance of property made by the debtor, being in insolvent circumstances, within four months previous to filing his petition, with a view to giving a creditor such preference, shall be void if the creditor at the time has reasonable cause to believe the debtor is insolvent, and the payment or transfer was made in fraud of the act. The complaint states a cause of action under this provision, and the assignee seeks to recover the stock of goods or their value from the defendants.
It is plain that this suit is founded strictly upon the provisions of this act — would not exist independently of it— and is
The doctrine is well settled that one state will not take cognizance of nor enforce penalties imposed by the laws of another state; and the principle applies to acts of congress which create a forfeiture. The rule is clearly stated by Chief Justice Spencer in The United States v. Lathrop, 17 Johns., 3, which was an action brought to recover a penalty imposed by an act of congress for selling by retail spirituous liquors without license, contrary to the provisions of the law. He says: “ It cannot be doubted, that a pecuniary penalty for a violation of, or nonconformity to, an act of congress, is as -much a punishment for an .ofíense against the laws, as if a corporal penalty had been inflicted; and as regards crimes and offenses made so by legislative enactment, the government of the United States stands in the same relation to the state governments as any foreign government, and it is a fundamental maxim, that the courts of one sovereignty will not take cognizance of, nor enforce, the penal code of another. Thus, in the case of Scoville v. Canfield (14 Johns., 339), we held that we would not enforce a penal statute of Connecticut, on the broad principle, that the courts of this state will not carry into effect the penal laws of another state.” p. 9. And
In the case in Michigan above referred to, the supreme court of that state take the same view of these provisions. They say: “ The right to assail the conveyance in question is purely statutory upon the case made by the bill. It is also in the nature of a ¡oenal enactment, in creating a forfeiture and disability enforceable in favor of the assignee. It is generally understood to be settled law, that no court will take jurisdiction for the sole purpose of enforcing' the penal consequences imposed by any other authority, which has its own courts to enforce them.”
It is suggested that the bankrupt act is the supreme law of the land, binding upon all courts; and that its provisions address themselves with the same compelling obligation to the state as to the federal tribunals. In a certain sense this is undoubtedly true. This court would be bound to respect and sustain titles derived through the bankrupt proceedings. This is clear. But its duty and power to take jurisdiction of causes arising under the bankrupt law are quite different matters.
It results from these views that the demurrer to the complaint should have been sustained.
By the Court.— The order overruling the demurrer is reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint.