Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/664

fi58 FEDERAL BBPOBTEB. �no ]ust distinction can be made between the owner's title and his possession, between Ms abstract right of property and those incidents of use and enjoyment which constitute the value of ownerslîip, or between a law or proceeding which purports to effect a change of title and one which purports to estop him from recovering the possession of the property, while not denying his title. Nor can there be any doubt that if the plaintiff is deprived of his property by the decision of the surrogate that he is dead, made binding and conclusiye upon him by act of the legislature, he is deprived of his prop- erty by the state, within the meaning of the constitution. The prohibition clearly extends to the action of the state, through any or ail of the departments, legislative, executive or judicial. �The principal question, however, still remains whether the plaintiff in this case, who, by the statutes of New York, aa construed by its courts, and by the proceeding had under those statutes, would clearly be deprived of his property — that is, of his elaim against his debtor, the defendant — would be so deprived of it "hy due process oflaw." If he would not Jbe he has no ground of complaint in this court. �The term, "due process of law," as used in the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States, is the same expression used in many of the state constitutions and in the fifth amendment, above referred to. Its meaning haa been many times expounded by the supreme court. �In Walker v. Sanvinet, 92 U. S. 92, Mr. Chief Justice Waite says : "A state cannot deprive a person of his prop- erty without due process of law, but this does not necessarily imply that ail trials in the state court affecting the property of persons must be by jury. This requirement of the con- stitution, is met if the trial is had according to the settled course of judicial proceedings. Due process of law is process due according to the law of the land. This process in the states is regulated by the law of the state. Our power over that law is only to determine whether it is in conflict with the supreme law of the land ; that is to say, with the consti- tution and laws of the United States made in nursuance ��� �