Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/462

 WiTIOOES V. BAKHB. 455 �Mattocks, Assignee, etc., v. Bakeb. �{Distriei Gourt, D. Maine. February, 1880.) �BAmcmiPTCT — Assignee — Rights AcQtrraED. — An assignee în bank- ruptcy, except as to property attached within the prescribed time before the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings, and that trans- ferred by conveyances fraudaient and void, takes the property of the estate subject to a]l equities, liens and encnmbrances existing against it in the hands of the bankrupt, and takes no greater interest than the bankrupt himself had. �JurasDicrroN— AsBiGNMBHT OF Claim to Confer— Pbadd— VàIiHUTy OF JuDGMENT. — ^The formai assignment of a cause of action to another person, citizen of another state, for the purpose of bringing suit in his name and thereby conferring jurisdiction upon the circuit court that it would not otherwise possess, is a f raud upon the court ; but if the defendant in such action, knowing the fact, fails to raise the objection, and the court assumes jurisdiction in the premises, the judgment ren* dered therein will be valid. �Samb — Sahe— Assignez in Bahkbcptot. — Where, in such case, the de- fendant is subsequently declared a bankrupt, the fraud in obtaining the judgment is not one that the assignee or creditors can complain of. �Assignee — ^Feaiid of Bankhtift. — An assignee in bankruptcy is not estopped by the fraud of the bankrupt, but the fraud that he can act upon must be one detrimental to the rights of creditors. �In Equity. �Charles P. Mattocks, for complainant. �Sewall G. Strout, for respondent. �Fox, D. J. The established rule is that except în cases of attachment against the property of the bankrupt, within a prescribed time, preceding the commencement of proceedings in bankruptcy, and except in cases where the disposition of property by the bankrupt is declared by law to be fraudulent and void, the assignee takes the title subject to ail equities, liens or encumbrances, whether created by operation of law, or by act of the bankrupt, which existed against the property in the hands of the bankrupt. 95 U. S. S. G. E. 766 ; Yeatman T. Savings Institution, 93 Otto, 634. If there be no such liens, and the property has not been conveyed in fraud of creditors, the assignee has no greater interest in or better title to it than the bankrupt. Kenny t. IngaUs, 126 Mass. 488. �It is alleged in the bill that the notes which were the ����