Case Name: Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant, vs. Schranck, Assignee, Respondent; Same, Respondent, vs. Same, Appellant; Schranck, Assignee, Respondent, vs. Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Decision Date: 1897-10-22
Citations: 97 Wis. 250
Docket Number: 
Parties: Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant, vs. Schranck, Assignee, Respondent. Same, Respondent, vs. Same, Appellant. Schranck, Assignee, Respondent, vs. Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wisconsin Reports
Volume: 97
Pages: 250–274

Head Matter:
Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant, vs. Schranck, Assignee, Respondent. Same, Respondent, vs. Same, Appellant. Schranck, Assignee, Respondent, vs. Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Appellant.
September 30
October 22, 1897.
Constitutional law: Act-impairing contracts: Voluntary assignments: Judgments confessed by authority of warrants of attorney: Appeal: Costs.
1. Notwithstanding the provision of sec. 1693a, S. & B. Ann. Stats., that an execution levy made under a judgment confessed against an insolvent debtor within sixty days prior to an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or a judgment entered on a promissory note by such debtor within that period, shall be void, an execution levy made under a judgment entered within sixty days prior to such assignment, on a judgment note given by the assignor more than sixty days prior to the assignment, is not void. Cassodav, C. J., dissents.
■g. The power given by warrant of attorney to enter judgment on a promissory note when due adds value thereto, and to destroy it would be a violation of the contract rights of the holder. The provision of ch. 334, Laws of 1897 (amending cb. 80 of the Revised Statutes of 1878, relating to voluntary assignments), that an insolvent debtor whose property is levied on by virtue of any process in favor of a creditor may, within ten days thereafter, make an assignment for the equal benefit of all his creditors, whereupon such levy shall be dissolved and the property taken be turned over to the assignee, if applied to levies under judgments entered upon judgment notes made more than sixty days before a voluntary assignment, by virtue of accompanying warrants of attorney, though entered within such sixty days, impairs the validity, force, and effect of contracts, and is therefore void. Cassodav, C. J., dissents.
3. A statute which, though in terms acting on the remedy alone, in effect substantially impairs the obligation of a contract, is as void as though it acted directly on the contract itself.
4. The supervision which courts exercise over judgments entered by warrants of attorney is of an equitable character, and such a judg ment will not be set aside merely because costs were included therein, if they were- reasonable in amount.
5. The error, if any, in taxing costs in a judgment entered by warrant of attorney was cured by the plaintiff's remitting the objectionable amount six days after the entry of the judgment.
Appeals from an order of the superior court of Milwaukee county: Geo. E. SutheelaND, Judge,
jReversed on plaintiff's appeal; affirmed on that of the assignee.
Appeal from an order of the circuit court for Milwaukee county: D. H. JohNsoN, Circuit Judge.
Reversed.
On the éth of May, 1897, the plaintiff bank caused to be entered in the superior court of Milwaukee county a judgment by confession upon a certain promissory note, dated August 15, 1896, in and by which Louis Henes, Jr., promised to pay to the plaintiff or order $24,000 in thirty days from date, with interest at sis per cent, from the date thereof, and claiming that $24,078.90, for principal and interest, was due thereon. Costs were included in the entry cf the judgment, to the amount of $32.20, $25 whereof was for attorney’s fees, as costs by statute. Execution was issued upon said judgment, and on the 4th day of May, 1897, the sheriff of Milwaukee county levied upon certain personal property of the defendant Henes, of the value of about $10,000; and it was made to appear that he still retained the custody thereof, and claimed the right to sell the same, by virtue of said execution.
An order was granted, upon the record, documents, etc., in the action, that plaintiff, together with the sheriff of Milwaukee county, show cause, etc., on the 29th day of May, before said court, at the court house, etc., why the judgment in said action, and the execution issued thereunder, should not both be vacated and set aside, and the levy made thereunder dissolved. The order was also based upon the affidavit of Henry G. Sohranclc, from which it appeared that on the 10th day of May (six days after the entry of said judgment and levy) the defendant Louis Henes, Jr., made to said Sohranok a voluntary assignment of all bis property and estate not exempt by law, pursuant to cb. 80, R. S. Wis., and acts amendatory thereof; that said Sohraneh qualified as such assignee, and wras then acting as such; that long prior to the entry of said judgment said defendant was, and ever since had been, insolvent; and that on the 10th day of May, 1897, after the making of such volu ntary assignment, and after deponent had duly qualified, he demanded of such sheriff, in writing, the possession of the propertjr so levied on, but that said sheriff and said plaintiff refused, and has ever since refused, to deliver up the same to him as such assignee; that said sheriff proposed to offer for sale and sell the said property on or before Wednesday, the 26th day of May, 1897; that the majority of the creditors of said assignee were nonresidents of the state of Wisconsin ; that they were interested in said property, and any sale that might be had thereof, and that the best interest of all such creditors would be promoted, and better bids would probably be procured, provided said sale was postponed for a reasonable time; that, as appeared from the judgment roll in the action, the costs therein were taxed at the sum of $32.20, and allowed, upon the consent of the defendant’s attorney, as set forth in his answer; that said costs so taxed and allowed at said sum included an item designated, “ Costs by statute $25,” which the defendant alleged to be grossly excessive, and to have been included “without the authority or consent of the defendant, and in fraud of his rights and the rights of creditors; that, as deponent was informed and believed, the note upon which the judgment was rendered was from time to time renewed, and the time of payment thereof extended, by agreement between the parties to said action, and the last renewal or extension thereof was made April 14, 1897, for a period of thirtjr days; and that the principal of said note was not due or payable until after the judgment was entered. The plaintiff afterwards, on the 4th of May, remitted said item of $25 so taxed and included in the judgment, and notified such assignee thereof.
Upon the hearing of this motion the court ordered “ that by reason of the voluntary assignment by said defendant, made on the 10th day of May, 1897, and within ten days after the property of said defendant was levied upon under the execution issued herein on the 4th day of May, 1897, said levy became, and is hereby declared to be, dissolved, and the said sheriff is hereby directed to forthwith turn over to said assignee, all and singular, the property levied upon by him under said execution, and that the motion of said assignee, in so far as •it seeks to dissolve said levy, be, and the same is hereby, granted.” It was further ordered “ that said judgment and execution issued thereunder be not vacated nor set aside, but that the same stand, and that the motion of said assignee to vacate or set aside said judgment and execution be denied.” The plaintiff appealed from that portion of the order directing the sheriff of Milwaukee county to turn over to the as-signee of the defendant herein property levied upon under the execution issued upon said judgment, and declaring said levy to be vacated. The said Henry 0. Schranck, as assignee, etc., appealed from that part of the order of the superior court which denied his motion to vacate and set aside the judgment therein, and the execution issued thereon.
On the 18th day of May, 1897, Henry O. Schranck, as as-signee of Louis Henes, Jr., obtained an order from the circuit court for Milwaukee county, in the matter of the assignment of said Louis Henes, Jr., requiring the plaintiff in said judgment, the Second Ward Savings Bank, and the sheriff of Milwaukee county, to show cause before said circuit court, at, etc., why they, and each .of them, should not be required to deliver and turn over to Henry G. Schranck, as assignee of Louis Henes, Jr., the property and assets levied upon by said sheriff of Milwaukee county under two certain executions issued upon judgments of the superior court of Milwaukee county in favor of said Second Ward Savings Bank against Louis Henes, Jr., and for such other or'further order or relief, etc. This order was based upon the petition of said Henry 0. Schranck, assignee, stating the execution and delivery to him by said Louis Iienes, Jr., of the voluntary assignment of all his property and estate for the benefit of his creditors on May 10,1897, and that he thereupon duly qualified as such assignee, and had ever since acted and was then acting as such.
The petition further alleged that the assignor, at the time of the assignment, and for many years prior thereto, had been engaged in the business of a wholesale and retail dealer in coal and wood in said city, and that on or about August 15, 1896, said assignor executed and delivered to the Second Ward Savings Bank his promissory note for $24,000 ‘dated that day, and due thirty days after date, together with a warrant of attorney thereto annexed, in the usual form, authorizing the confession of judgment thereon; that on or about November 21, 1896, said assignor executed and delivered to said Second Ward Savings Bank his certain other promissory note for $2,000, with warrant of attorney to confess judgment thereon thereto annexed, in the usual form, payable sixty days after date. The petition further stated that upon the 6th of May, 1897, three days prior to the execution and delivery of said assignment, the Second Ward Savings Bank caused judgment to be entered in the superior court by confession upon said judgment notes as follows? namely, a certain judgment for $24,111.10, damages and costs, and a certain other judgment for the sum of $1,036.53, damages and costs, and that on said 6th day of May, 1897, executions issued on said judgments were delivered to F. G-. Isenring, sheriff of Milwaukee county, who on that day levied upon, all and singular, the property of the said assignor, and ever since bad and retained the custody of, and claimed the right to sell, the same, by virtue of said execution.
It was further stated in said petition that at the time of the execution of said assignment, and the time of the entering and docketing of the said judgments, said Louis Henes, Jr., was insolvent, and that it appeared from his books and papers in the possession of the petitioner, and from statements made by him to petitioner, that said assignor on the 6th day of May, 1897, owed debts to the amount of about $57,000, and that according to the best knowledge, information, and belief of petitioner the assets of said assignor consisted of the divers items therein stated of the cash value of not to exceed $10,000; that at the time of the execution and delivery of the said judgment notes said Louis Henes, Jr., was insolvent, and that at the time of the receipt of said judgment notes by said Second W<wd Savings Bank it knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, said assignor to be insolvent ; and that at the time of the execution and delivery of said assignment, and of the entry of the aforesaid judgments, said assignor was insolvent. It alleged demand by the assignee of the sheriff for possession of, all and singular, the property of the assignor so levied on, under and pursuant to the provisions of ch. 334, Laws of 1897, but that the said sheriff and the said Second Ward Savings Bank refused, and still did refuse, to deliver up possession thereof to petitioner. And the petitioner prayed the order of the court in the premises, requiring said sheriff to deliver and turn over to him, as such assignee, all and singular, the property levied upon by him as aforesaid, under and pursuant to the statutes in such case made and provided.
An affidavit was read at the hearing, made by one Charles C. Schmidt, one of the general officers of the Second Ward Savings Bank, a judgment creditor, to the effect that he was and had been cashier of such bank for many years, and, as-such officer, personally conducted the transactions mentioned in the affidavit and order to show cause, and knew all the circumstances connected with, and surrounding the same; that the judgments mentioned and order to show cause were entered and docketed, and the executions issued and delivered to the sheriff of Milwaukee county, and the levies and seizures thereon were made, on the 4th day of May, 1897, and not on the 6th day of May, 1897, as alleged in said affidavit; and further, that, at the time, of the receipt of the judgment notes by the bank from said assignor, the said bank did not know, nor did affiant or any of the other officers of said bank, nor did they or either or any of them, have any cause to believe, that the assignor herein was insolvent ; and that the bank accepted and received both of said judgment notes from the assignor on the dates mentioned in the affidavit, in good faith and for a valuable com siderplion.
Upon the hearing, on motion by the attorneys for'each and all of said parties, it was ordered that said circuit court assume and take jurisdiction of the matters set forth in said petition and order, and of the parties appearing therein. And it was ordered that the prayer of said petition be and was thereby granted, and that by reason of said voluntary assignment the levies set forth in said petition be, and they were thereby, dissolved; and said sheriff was directed to forthwith turn over to said assignee, all and singular, the property levied upon by him under the executions.
Erom said order the said Second Ward Savings Bank appealed.
For the bank there were briefs by Howa/rd <& Mallory, and oral argument by B. B. Mallory.
Eor the assignee there were briefs by Van Dyke & Van Dyke & darter, and a separate brief by Sylvester, Scheiber <& Orth, attorneys, and W. D. Van Dyke, of counsel, and .the cause was argued orally by W. D. Van Dyke and Fred ,Scheiber.
They argued, among other things, that ch. 334, Laws of 1897, merely operated to limit or suspend an exe•cution levy during the reasonable time of ten days, and -affected the remedy only. Freeman, Executions, § 34; Johnson v. Fletcher (Miss.), 28 Am. Rep. 388; Wendell v. Leboñ, ■ 80 Minn. 234; Von Bcmmbach v. Bade, 9 Wis. 559-579. The legislature may abolish a part of a remedy or one of two remedies. Mason v. Haile, 12 Wheat. 370; Beers v. Uaugh-ton, 9 Pet. 359; Bute v. Muscatine, 8 Wall.'575. It may limit or extend the time within which a remedy may be exercised, for a definite and reasonable period. That the substituted remedy is less beneficial does not make the change unconstitutional. Bronson v. Kvnzie, 1 How. 311; Curtis v. Whitneyx 13 Wall. 68; Strevbel v. M. <& M. 11. Co. 12 Wis. 67-80.

Opinion:
PiNNey, J.
Except as to a matter of costs in the entry of the largest judgment against Louis Henes, the question involved in these appeals is whether ch. 334, Laws of 1897, as applied to the facts stated, is unconstitutional, as impairing the obligation of the contracts contained in the notes and warrants of attorney upon which the judgments above set forth were entered; the assignee claiming that this statute is a permitted change of the existing remedy, while the plaintiff bank claims that the statute is a law impairing the obligation of these contracts, and its substantial rights under 'them, and therefore void, under the provisions of the constitutions of the state and of the United States prohibiting the passage of any law impairing the obligation of contracts.
1. The act in question took effect April 30,1897, and is "An •act to amend chapter 80, of the revised statutes of the state of Wisconsin for the year 1878, entitled, 'Of voluntary assignments.' " It provides that " whenever the property of an insolvent debtor is attached or levied upon by virtue of any process in favor of a creditor, or a garnishment is made against such a debtor, such debtor may, within ten days thereafter, make an assignment of all his property and estate not exempt by law, for the equal benefit of all his-creditors, as provided by law, whereupon all such attack-"ments, levies, garnishments, or other process shall be dissolved and the property attached or levied upon shall be-turned over to such assignee or receiver." The act is á general one, and is an amendment to and a part of the voluntary assignment law of the state, which, taken in connection with the act providing for the discharge of a debtor (Laws of 1889, ch. 385), is, in substance and effect, an insolvent or bankrupt law, and as such permitted, in the absence of federal legislation. The notes and warrants of attorney had; been given more than sixty days before the passage of the-act. The remedy given to the plaintiff at the time these-contracts were made was to enter judgment pursuant to the warrants of attorney, issue execution thereon, and levy the same upon the property of the debtor and sell it to satisfy the debt. This right, at the time the notes and warrants of attorney were given, could not be taken' away by the-making of a voluntary assignment by the debtor, if the notes and warrants of attorney upon which the judgment was entered had been given more than sixty days prior to the making of such assignment, even though the maker was insolvent at the time they were given and when the judgment was-entered. McCaul v. Thayer, 70 Wis. 138. Sec. 1693a, S. & B. Ann. Stats., provides that " every execution levy made-under 'a judgment confessed against any such insolvent debtor, within sixty days prior to any assignment for the benefit of creditors, or under a judgment entered on a judgment note, by any such debtor, within sixty days prior to any such assignment, and the lien of any such judgment upon real estate, shall.be void and of no effect."
In McCaul v. Thayer, supra, this section was before the court for consideration; and it was held that an execution levy made under a judgment entered within sixty days prior to an assignment for the benefit of creditors, upon a judgment note given by the assignor more than sixty days prior to such assignment, was not void. The court, by OetoN, J., said that the only mischiefs to be cured by the act were acts of the debtor by which he preferred creditors, and prevented " the equal distribution of his property among all • of his creditors," and that the entry of judgment at the instance of the plaintiff or creditor alone, " upon a judgment note given," was in no sense his act at the time of such entry. " He is entirely passive. He can do nothing to aid it or to prevent it. He has given a power of attorney, wbitoh is irrevocable because coupled with an interest. The .entry of judgment on such a note by the creditor is not one of the evils or within the mischief to be cured, or named in the title, or within the purview of the law." " The rights of the parties had become fixed by the giving of such a note when it was lawful and could not possibly change the condition of the debtor as to his creditors, or prevent the equal distribution of his property among them. The entry of judgment is a mere legal consequence of the giving of the judgment note. It is not a new act by the debtor, but a natural and legal result, beyond his control. The judgment, so to speak, is embodied within the note, and a necessary part' and essential element of it, and the note changes its form into a judgment of record, under the statute." And, further commenting upon such securities, he said: "A judgment nóte is a security, and a valuable one, to the holder, and it is so recited in the power of attorney. This method of business has grown into the very necessities of our business of banking, merchandising, commerce, and of buying and selling in all forms, and of exchange. It is the most common as well as the most valuable method of security in connection with commercial paper, and to destroy or discredit it would derange and unsettle the business of the country, and seriously affect the public interests." The contention that the debtor •cpuld prevent the entry of judgment indirectly, by mating ¡an assignment, was combated, as not within the intention •of the legislature, as it would work .a violation of the contract eights of such a creditor. It was further laid down, that the power of attorney to enter judgment upon the note when due, and which gave the note the name and character of a judgment note, added value thereto in the market, as well as intrinsically, " and that value neither the debtor nor the legislature has any right to lessen by prohibiting its use in •entering judgment, by any pretext of technical or legal fraud; " and it was there held that the second clause of sec. 2, ch. 349, Laws of 1883, should be construed as if it read, or under a judgment entered on. a judgment note made by •any such debtor within sixty days prior to.any such assignment." Under the decision in McCaul v. Thayer, 70 Wis. 138, judgment notes were thus placed upon a basis by which they were greatly increased in value, and a much more extended •use was made of them by merchants, bankers, and business men, as securities.
. The remedy given to the plaintiff by the law in force at •the-time these notes and warrants of attorney were given, .and which entered into and formed a part of the contracts, and made them particularly valuable, was to enter judgment, issue execution, and levy upon the property of the debtor, and sell the same to satisfy the-debt. The debtor could not defeat it by revoking the warrant of attorney. The notes .and warrants of attorney were potentially judgments upon •which an execution could be speedily issued and levied. "They were substantially preferences legally and properly .acquired by the plaintiff over all other creditors of the defendant. The time within which they might be questioned ¡by the assignee of the maker, under his voluntary assignment for the benefit of his creditors, had expired, and the preferences had become absolute, before the act of 1897 became operative. The effect of the statute upon these con tracts, according to its terms, was to enable the debtor (assignor) to revoke, the remedy thus given, and to render these securities as a means of reaching and selling his property to satisfy the judgments thereon of no value whatever. It authorized and empowered the debtor, at Ms option, to withdraw his property from a levy for that purpose, and' defeat the remedy which made them especially valuable;, and, if the contention of the assignee is maintained,- the-remedy secured by these contracts might thus be utterly defeated at the option of the assignor. The orders appealed' from, pursuant to the statute, dissolved the levy made, and rescued the property from the hands of the sheriff and the creditor thus rightfully pursuing it, to work out the remedy secured to him by the law of the contracts.
It is contended in support of the act that it is a part of the state system of insolvency or bankruptcy, and that it is legislation which relates to the remedy, and so within the constitutional competency of the legislature. In Edwards v. Kearzey, 96 U. S. 600, it was said: "The obligation of a contract includes everything within its obligatory scope. Among these elements nothing is more important than the means of enforcement. This is the breath of its vital existence. "Without it, the contract, as such, in the view of the law, ceases to be, and falls into the class of those £ imperfect obligations,' as they are termed, which depend for their fulfillment upon the will and conscience of those upon whom they rest. The ideas of right and remedy are inseparable. ' Want of right and want of remedy are the same thing.' . . . 1A statute providing that a previous contract of indebtment may be extinguished by a process of bankruptcy would involve its discharge, and a statute forbidding -the sale of any of the debtor's property under a judgment upon such a contract would relate to the remedy.' It -cannot be doubted, either upon principle or authority, that each of such laws-would violate the obligation of the contract, and the last not. less than the first. These propositions seem to us too clear to require discussion. It is also the settled doctrine of this court that the laws which subsist at the time and place of making a contract enter into and form a part of it, as if they were expressly referred to, or incorporated in its terms-. This rule embraces alike those which affect its validity, construction, discharge, and enforcement."
In Green v. Biddle, 8 Wheat. 1, the court said: " It is no answer that the acts of Kentucky now in question are regulations of the remedy, and not of the right to the lands. If these acts so change the nature and extent of existing remedies as materially to impair the rights and interests of the owner, they are just as much a violation of the compact as if they overturned his rights and interests." And it was further said that: " Whatever belongs to the remedy may be altered according to the will of the state, provided the alteration does not impair the obligation of a contract; but, if that effect is produced, it is immaterial whether it is done by acting on the remedy, or directly on the contract itself. In either case it is prohibited by the constitution," — and that the test as to whether a contract has been impaired is whether its value has, by legislation, been diminished. It is not, by the constitution, to be impaired at all. This is not a question of degree or manner or cause, but of encroaching in any respect on its obligation,— dispensing with any part of its force. Planters' Bank v. Sharp, 6 How. 301. In Antoni v. Greenhow, 107 U. S. 769, it was said: " It is competent for the states to change the form of the remedy, or to modify it otherwise as they may see fit, provided no substantial right secured by the contract is thereby impaired. . " . Whenever the result last mentioned is produced, the act is within the prohibition of the constitution, and to that extent void."
In Brine v. Insurance Co. 96 U. S. 627-637, it was held,, through Mr. .Justice Miller, that: "All laws of a state, exr isting at the time a mortgage or arty other contract is made which affect the rights of the parties to the contract, enter into and become a part of it, and are obligatory on all courts which assume to give a remedy on such contracts; " that the construction, validity, and effect of contracts " are governed by the place where they are made and are to be performed. - . . It is therefore said that these laws enter into, and become a part of, the contract. There is no doubt that a distinction has been drawn, or attempted to be drawn, between such laws as regulate the rights of the parties, and such as apply only to the remedy. It may be conceded that in some cases such a distinction exists. In the recent case of Tennessee v. Sneed, 96 U. S. 69, we held that, so long as theré remained a sufficient remedy on the contract, an act of the legislature changing the form of the remedy did not impair the obligation of the contract. But this doctrine was said to be subject to the limitation that there remained a remedy which was complete, and which secured all the substantial rights of the party. At all events, the decisions of this court are numerous that the laws which prescribe the mode of enforcing a contract, which are in existence when it is made, are so far a part of the contract that no changes in these laws which seriously interfere with that enforcement are valid, because they impair its obligation, within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. Edwards v. Kearzey, 96 U. S. 595." And the learned justice, enforcing his argument, quoted from the opinion of Chief Justice TaNey in the case of Bronson v. Kinzie, 1 How. 316, as follows: "Whatever belongs merely to the remedy may be altered according to the will of the state, provided the alteration does not impair the obligation of contracts; but, if that effect is produced, it is immaterial whether it is done by acting on the remedy, or directly on the contract itself. •In either case it is prohibited by the constitution." And further: "It is manifest that the obligation of the con tract, and the rights of a party under it, may, in effect, be-destroyed by denying the remedy altogether, or may be-seriously impaired by bwrdening the proceedings with new conditions and restrictions, so as to malee the remedy hardly worth pursuing. And no one, we presume, would say that there is any substantial difference between a retrospective law declaring a particular contract or class of contracts to-be abrogated and void, and one which took away all remedy to enforce them, or incumbered it with conditions that rendered it useless or impracticable to pursue it."
In Denny v. Bennett, 128 U. S. 497, quoting the language-of the court in Gilman v. Lockwood, 4 Wall. 409, it was said that " state legislatures may pass insolvent laws, provided-there be no act of congress establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy conflicting with their provisions, and provided that the law itself be so framed that it does not impai/r the-obligation of contracts." The whole subject of legislation, in violation of these constitutional provisions is elaborately considered in the recent case of Barnitz v. Beverly, 163 U. S. 118, in which it is laid down that: " The obligation of a contract consists in its binding force on the party who makes-it. This 'depends on the laws in existence when it is made. These are necessarily referred to in all contracts, and forming a part of them' as the measure of the obligation to perform them by the one party, and the right acquired by the-other. There can be no other standard by which to ascertain the extent of either than that which the terms of the contract indicate,, according to their settled legal meaning. When it becomes consummated the law defines the duty and the right, compels one party to perform the thing contracted for, and gives the other a right to enforce the performance by the remedies then in force. If any subsequent law affects to diminish the duty or to impair the right, it necessarily bears on the obligation of the contract, in favor of one party, to the injury of the other; hence any law •which in its operation amounts to a denial or obstruction of the rights accruing by a contract, though professing to act. only on the remedy, is directly obnoxious to the prohibition of the constitution. And it is obvious it can make no difference as to the character of the law, whether it be an insolvent law, or a law upon any other subject, having the effect indicated." Denny v. Bennett, supra.
The extent of the power of the legislature over remedies-was fully considered and discussed in the case of Von Baumbach v. Bade, 9 Wis. 559, and cases cited; and the result was reached that the legislature possesses the power of changing or modifying laws governing proceedings in courts of justice, in respect to past as well as future contracts, and this power is unrestricted, except that a substantial remedy must be afforded according to the course of justice as it existed at the time the contract was made. Hasbrouck v. Shipman, 16 Wis. 296. The doctrine of the case of Edwards v. Kearzey, 96 U. S. 595,— that the remedy subsisting in a state-when and "where a contract is made and is to be performed is a part- of the obligation,— is now universal; and any legislation, though acting merely upon the remedy, that substantially impairs or lessens the value of the contract, is forbidden by the constitution, and therefore void. People ex rel. Reynolds v. Common Council of Buffalo, 140 N. Y. 307.
The situation when the judgments were entered was this r The maker of the notes and warrants of attorney had become insolvent. The creditor bank invoked the remedy existing when the contracts were made, which entered into and formed a part of them, and made them valuable securities, by which they had become valid preferences. The law authorizing the entry of judgment on them, and immediate execution and levy thereof upon the debtor's property, had not been withdrawn. Judgments were entered, and levy was made accordingly upon a sufficient amount, it would seem, to pay a considerable part of the debt. The debtor hereupon elected to make, and did make, a voluntary assignment for tbe benefit of bis creditors. By virtue of tbe assignment and tbe operation of tbe act in question, tbe -creditor is deprived of tbe benefit of bis lawful remedy, which we tbink was an essential part of tbe contracts or securities. By tbe subsequent action of tbe courts, executing tbe statute, tbe fruit of sucb lawful remedy, out of which .to satisfy its debt, has been wholly wrested from its grasp, and turned over to tbe debtor's assignee for equal distribution among all bis creditors, so that tbe amount which tbe creditor bank will probably receive from sucb property will be but a trifling sum. Tbe remedy, therefore, which entered into and formed an important part of tbe contracts evidenced by tbe notes and warrants of attorney, within tbe meaning and effect of the decisions referred to, is practically abrogated and taken away. Conceding that the legislation in question belongs to the class known as remedial, it is still evident that tbe value of these contracts was materially lessened by and through its operation, and their validity and binding force were impaired. It is needless to add that legislation having sucb an operation or effect upon prior contracts cannot be justified or sustained because it relates to or is amendatory of state legislation on tbe subject of insolvency or bankruptcy. Existing contracts may be impaired by sucb legislation as well as by any other. ¥e bold, therefore, that tbe provisions of the act in question as applicable to notes and warrants of attorney, and judgments and executions to enforce the same, given more than sixty days before a subsequent assignment for the benefit of creditors, impair the validity, force, and effect of sucb contracts, and are therefore void.
2. It was argued that tbe larger judgment should be set aside because costs were included in it; that tbe proceeding was a special proceeding under tbe statute, upon which, by law, no costs could be allowed. It is sufficient, upon this point, to notice that by the warrant oí attorney the defendant expressly stipulated for the entry of " judgment with costs." ' The supervision which courts exercise over judgments entered, as these were, upon warrants of attorney, is of an equitable character; and, as the costs were certainly reasonable in amount, the case does not present any equity or merit which should incline the court to vacate or set aside the judgment on that ground. Six days after the entry of the judgment the plaintiff bank remitted the item of " $25 by statute," taxed and included in the judgment, and declined to contend for it. Whatever of error or irregularity there may have been in this respect must be held to have been cured, if not by the stipulation for release of errors, certainly by promptly remitting the item objected to. In re Ellis, ante, p. 88.
It follows from these views that the order of the circuit court for Milwaukee county, directing the sheriff of Milwaukee county to forthwith turn over to said assignee, all and singular, the property levied upon by him under said executions, must be reversed, with costs, and the cause remanded with directions that said court cause said property, or its proceeds, to be restored to the sheriff of Milwaukee county, to be disposed of and applied in satisfaction of the executions mentioned; and that the order of the superior court appealed from by the Second, Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee must be reversed, with costs, and the cause remanded to that court with directions to cause to be restored to the sheriff of Milwaukee county the property or its proceeds, turned over by the order of that court to Henry G. Schranch as assignee of Louis Henes, Jr., to the end that it may be applied in satisfaction of the said judgments in favor of the Second Ward Savings Banlc of Milwaukee against said Louis Henes, Jr., the assignor; and that the part of the order of said superior court refusing to vacate the said judgment and execution against the said Louis Henes, Jr., must be affirmed, with costs.
By the Court.— Judgment is ordered accordingly.