Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/81941/mcveigh-vs-united-states
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 09:11:19+00:00

Document:
1. In a libel of information for the forfeiture of property, under the Act of Congress of July 17, 1862, entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," for certain offenses charged against the owner, his alleged criminality lies at the foundation of the proceeding, and the questions of his guilt and ownership are fundamental in the case.
2. The owner of property for the forfeiture of which a libel is filed under the act above mentioned is entitled to appear and to contest the charges upon which the forfeiture is claimed although he was at the time of filing the libel a resident within the Confederate lines and a rebel, and he can sue out a writ of error from this Court to review any final decree of the court below condemning his property.
and proclamation by the President and return to their allegiance to the United States. The act contains numerous sections. They are set forth with fullness in a case which was decided soon after this one and which is reported next to it, Miller v. United States, the leading case on the Confiscation Acts, and in which, rather than in this one where the main subjects were hardly reached, the provisions of the statute are inserted. To understand the present case, it is indispensable that the reader be possessed of the nature of that statute, and of its provisions. He will therefore have the goodness to turn forward to page 78 U. S. 269 , and to read from the words, beginning with an "*", " The Act of July 17, 1862, contains fourteen sections," on that page, to the words on page 78 U. S. 273 , beginning with a "**", "In order to carry out these acts," after which he will resume his reading here.
With this statute in force the United States filed a libel of information in the district court for the District of Virginia, for the forfeiture of certain real and personal property of one William McVeigh, situated in Virginia. The information was in form against "all the right, title, and estate of William McVeigh in and to all that certain piece, parcel, or lot of land," &c.;, describing it particularly.
to charge, in addition to the above offenses, that McVeigh, on the 18th of July, 1862, was engaged in armed rebellion against the government of the United States, and notwithstanding the President, on the 25th of July, 1862, issued his proclamation warning all persons thus engaged to cease participating in aiding, countenancing, and abetting such rebellion, the said McVeigh did not within sixty days thereafter cease to aid, countenance, and abet such rebellion, and return to his allegiance to the United States.
McVeigh appeared by counsel, made a claim to the property, and filed an answer. This answer was not contained in the record, and nothing of its contents appeared except what was stated in the order of the court made on the motion of the attorney of the United States.
The attorney of the United States, however, moved that the claim, answer, and appearance be stricken from the files, as it appeared from the answer filed, that at the time of filing it the party was "a resident of the City of Richmond, within the Confederate lines, and a rebel." The court granted the motion. Subsequently the default of all persons was taken, and a decree was rendered for the condemnation and sale of the property. The case was carried to the circuit court, and there the decree was affirmed. It was now brought here on writ of error.
This is a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Virginia.
The defendants in error filed in the District Court of the United States for that district a libel of information, under the Act of July 17, 1862, to reach, for the purposes of forfeiture and sale, certain real and personal property of McVeigh, a description of which is fully set forth. The original libel was the same, mutatis mutandis, as that in the case of Garnett, claimant of certain real estate, against the United States. [ Footnote 1 ] An amendment was subsequently made, whereby a farther charge was alleged of the offense defined in the sixth section of the act. The plaintiff in error appeared by counsel, interposed a claim to the property, and filed an answer. The attorney of the United States submitted a motion, that the appearance, answer, and claim should be stricken from the files, for the reasons that the respondent was "a resident of the city of Richmond, within the Confederate lines, and a rebel." An order was made according to the motion. Subsequently a decree pro confesso was taken. The property was condemned as forfeited, and ordered to be sold. The circuit court upon error affirmed the decree, and the case is now before us for review.
defendant against whom a judgment by default has been taken. The case is wholly unlike a proceeding purely in rem, where no claimant is named, and none appears until after the final decree or judgment is entered, and the case has terminated. We entertain no doubt that the plaintiff in error had the right to sue out the writ, and that the record is properly before us for examination.
Whether the legal status of the plaintiff in error was, or was not, that of an alien enemy, is a point not necessary to be considered, because, apart from the views we have expressed, conceding the fact to be so, the consequences assumed would by no means follow. Whatever may be the extent of the disability of an alien enemy to sue in the courts of the hostile country, [ Footnote 3 ] it is clear that he is liable to be sued, and this carries with it the right to use all the means and appliances of defense. In Bacon's Abridgment, [ Footnote 4 ] it is said: "For as an alien may be sued at law, and may have process to compel the appearance of his witnesses, so he may have the benefit of a discovery."
The judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause will be remanded to the circuit court with directions to proceed in it in conformity to law.
See supra, 78 U. S. 256 .
Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall. 388; Bonaker v. Evans, 16 Adolphus & Ellis N.S. 170; Capel v. Child, 2 Crompton & Jervis 574.
Clarke v. Morey, 10 Johnson 69; Russel v. Skipwith, 6 Binney 241.
Title Alien, D see also Story's Equity Pleadings § 53; Albrecht v. Sussmann, 2 Vesey & Beams 323; Dorsey v. Kyle, 30 Md. 512, 522.

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