United States v. Drennen et al.
ability to sue executors and administrators at all.
Now that power is clearly vested in the courts of the United States, because the act of 1789 adverted to, expressly provides for rendering judgments against the estates of deceased persons. Gordon's Digest, 687. And the same act provides for the issuing of executions on all judgments rendered in those courts. 13 Peters, 60. Besides, the reports of the courts of the United States furnish ample evidenee of the constant practice of bringing suits against executors and administrators, and to cite these cases would be a work of supererogation, because it would be to demonstrate what cannot be denied. Nor does it seem to have been thought, in any instance, that judgments thus rendered could not be executed; and certainly an execution is necessary to the beneficial exercise of the jurisdiction. An execution is said to be the end of the law, and it gives to the successful party the fruits of his judgment. 9 Peters, 8. If a court is competent to pronounce judgment, it must be equally competent to issue execution to obtain its satisfaction. 8 Wheat. 106. A court without the means of executing its judgments and decrees, would be an anomaly in jurisprudence, not deserving the name of a judicial tribunal. It would be idle to adjudicate what could not be executed; and the power to pronounce necessarily implies the power of executing. Congress has the constitutional power to carry into effect all judgments which the judicial department has power to pronounce. Wayman v. Southard, 10 Wheat. 1; Bank U.S. v. Halstead, 10 Wheat. 51. And as we have already seen, that power has been exercised in the act of 1789, by expressly authorizing writs of execution to issue on all judgments which the courts of the United States may render.
The jurisdiction of the courts of the United States is derived alone from the constitution and laws of the United States, and cannot be enlarged, diminished, or affected by State laws or regulations. 1 Wash. C.C. Rep. 232; 1 Brock. C.C. Rep. 203; 10 Wheat. 1, 51, 61. Nor can the local laws of a State confer jurisdiction on the courts of the United States. They can only furnish rules to ascertain the rights of parties and thus assist in the administration of the proper remedies, where the
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