Page:United States Reports, Volume 3.djvu/6



N the meeting of the Court, a commission was read, dated the 28th of January, 1794, appointing William Bradford, Esquire, Attorney-General of the United States.

HIS cause was now tried, by a special jury, upon an amicable issue, to ascertain, whether the debt due from Spalding, and the right of action to recover it, belonged to the State of Georgia, or to the original creditors, under all the circumstances, which are set forth in the pleadings and arguments on the equity side of the Court? See 2 vol. Dall. R.p. 403. 415.

For the plaintiff, Ingersoll and Dallas, proposed two objects for enquiry:1. Was the debt due from Spalding, at any time the property of the State ?2. Has the title of the State ceased, or been removed, and the right of action re-vested in the defendants ?

1. On the first point, they contended, that Georgia as a sovereign state, had power to transfer the debt in question from the original creditor, an alien enemy, to herself, notwithstanding some of the debtors were citizens of another State; that by her confiscation law she had declared the intention to make the transfer; and that without an inquest of office, her intention had been carried into effect in due form, and according to