Bank of Alexandria v. Herbert’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 2 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In this case a bill was brought in the Circuit Court: for the county of Alexandria by William Herbert, Jr., trustee for the creditors of John Potts, an insolvent debtor, against the bank of Alexandria, to recover the proceeds of a tract of land, the property of Potts, which had been sold by consent, and the money deposited in bank. “This land had been conveyed by Potts to the bank, to secure the payment of a sum of money borrowed by him, but the deed of mortgage had not been recorded until eight months after its date had elapsed. The law of Virginia, which governs this case, declares all deeds of mortgage whatsoever, though good between the parties, to be void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers without notice, unless they be recorded within eight months from the date. “The question is whether this mortgage can be set up in favor of the bank against the trustee for the creditors. . . . “The resemblance between the trustee for the estate of an insolvent debtor in the District of Columbia and the assignees of a bankrupt is admitted; yet a clear distinction exists between the cases cited at bar and that before the court. In those cases the deed was declared void without any view to creditors. In this case the deed is declared void for the particular benefit of creditors. To set up this deed against the creditors would be to defeat the very object for which the law was made.” (Italics ours.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. C.I.T. Corporation v. Seaney