Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/690

UNITED STATES », HOWCLIi. 675 �and chattels, lands and tenements of the defendants could be found in excess of the homestead and personal property exemptions allowed by the constitu- tion and laws of the state upon execution for any debts. James E. Boyd, Esq., United States district attorney, made a motion for an alias execution to be issued to the marshal, and that he be directed by an order of court to make a levy and sale of the property of the defendants, without regarding sueh exemptions. �DicK, D. J. The constitution of this state, in article 10, §§1, 2, provides as follows: ���•' The Personal property of any resident of this state, to the value of J to be selected by such resident, shall be, and is hereby, exempted from sale under execution, or other final process of any court, issued for the collec- tion of any debt." �"Every homestead, and the dwelling and buildings used therewith, not exceeding in value $1,000, to be selected by the owner thereof, or in lieu thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in a eity, town, or village, with the dwelling and buildings used thereon, owued and oocupied by any resident of this state, and not exceeding the value of $1,000, shall be exempt from sale under execution, or any other final process obtained on any debt. But no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes, or for payment of obliga- tions contracted for the purchase of said premises." �Various laws have been enaeted by the state legislature for the put- pose of seouring and carrying out these constitutional provisions. It has been decided by the supreme court of the United States, in Edwards v. Kearzey, 96 U. S. 595, and subsequently by our state supreme court in Earle v. Hardie, 80 N. 0. 177, that the second sec- tion of article 10 of the state constitution of 1868, which exempts from execution real property of a resident debtor, not exceeding in value the sum of $1,000, is void against pre-existing debts, beingin contravention of the constitution of the United States, which inhibits a state from passing a law inapairing the obligation of contracts. �In Lamb v. Chamness, 8e N. G. 379, it is decided that the homestead of a defendant bankrupt is protected from sale under execution by operation of the amendment to the bankrupt act of 1873, without regard to the date of the judgment lien. After many elaborate argu- ments and decisions in the courts, and with the aid of frequent legis- lative enactments,, the rights of homestead and personal property exemptions provided for in the state constitution are well defined and established as to debts due to individual creditors. �Every resident debtor is secured in these rights against sale under execution founded on a judgment obtained in any state or federal court on any debts contracted sinee the adoption of the state consti- ��� �