Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/600

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5SS fedsbal bsposteb. �gation, or is threatened with litigation, in respect tp said land, based upon the deeds sought to he avoided, after the discharge of the bank- Tupt, and when there are uo longer any kaowa assets to be distiibuted among creditors. — [Ed. �Wm. Allen Butler, for petitioners. �Geo. F. Betts, for respondents. �Blatchfoed, g. J. It was provided by section 6 of the bankruptcy act of August 19, 1841, (5 St. at Large, 445,) that "the district judge may adjourn any point or question arising in any case in bankruptcy ^into the circuit court foi the district, in bis discretion, to be there heard and deter- mined, and for this purpose the circuit court of such district sball be deemed always open." ^nder this provision the following question has been adjourned into this court by the district judge of this district, as a question arising, in the a,b^Qy^-entitIed cases, which are c^geg in the district court for this district, in bankruptcy, under the said act, to be here heard and determined : " Whether the district court has power, sitting in bankruptcy and exercising the jurisdiction oonferred by the bankrupt law of 1841, by summary order, to set aside and order to be surrendered and cancelled deeds given by the officiai assignee, wJlioh '^exe itEprovidently, irregularly, or without due authority executed by him, or which were pro- cured to be executed' by imposition and fraudulent practices upon the court, or ; which were designedly so drawn as to be grants in excess of or varying in material particulars from the orders of the court undeir which they purport to be exe- cuted, \fhile the same are still in the hands of the party by wbom they were so procured from the assignee, and who had notice of said irregularities and defects, and who gave no value therefor, except certain sums paid to the officiai as- signee as fees, upon the petition of a party not a creditor of the bankrupt, and having no interest in the matter, except that he is in the possession of land, claiming title thereto, and that he has been subjected to litigation, or is threatened with litigation, in respect to said land, based upon the deeds sought to be avoided. Whether this power, if it can be exercised at ail, can be exercised after the discharge of the bankrupt, and ��� �