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320 COOMBS 9. JORDAN.
in any one else, such equitable interest must, according to this
law, be held liable to a Hen, and to be taken in execution on a
judgment against such defendant, (d) But between these ex-
tremes, where the lines shall be drawn, and how the relative inte-
rests of the parties shall be adjusted, may be, in some cases, the
cause of much perplexity; and that not merely in this court; for,
by means of this act of Assembly cases involving and resting upon
a mere question of equity may thus consequentially be brought
within the jurisdiction of a court of common law. (e)
It will be seen from what has been said, that the lien of a judg-
ment at common law arises altogether from the liability of the
freehold to be taken in execution and extended or sold for the
satisfaction of such judgment. According to the English law,
although a decree is equal to a judgment in the administration of
the personal assets; yet it gives no such lien upon the realty as
that arising from a judgment; because a decree acts only in per-
sonam, not in rem; and the remedy upon a decree to affect land is
only for a contempt, whereupon the party proceeds to sequestra-
tion, which is a mere personal process, (f) But a writ of seques-
tration binds from the very time of awarding it, and not only from
the time of its being laid or of its delivery to the sheriff; and in
that respect it gives a lien earlier than a fieri facias, (g) But
where lands or the profits of lands, which is all one, are directly
in demand, as where the lands or their profits were charged with
the payment of a legacy to the plaintiff, the title is bound from the
time of filing the bill, and every purchaser pendente lite comes in
at his peril, (h)
The act of Assembly prescribes the order in which the debts of
a deceased debtor shall be paid out of his real as well as out of
his personal assets, giving a preference to judgments, and thus
recognizing the lien to which they give rise; but it is silent as to
decrees, (t) The testamentary system puts judgments and decrees
upon the same footing in the administration of the personal estate;
but does not intimate, that a decree gives rise to any lien upon the
realty like that attendant upon a judgment at law. (j) There is
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(d) Jackson v. Willard, 4 John, Rep. 41.—(e) Scott v. Scholey, 8 East. 467;
Archer v. Snapp, Andrews, 341; Hopkins v. Stump, 2 H. &. J. 301; Harding v.
Stevenson, 6 H. & J, 264.—(f) Powel Mortg, 547; Ram, on Assets, 292.—
(f) Burdett v. Rockley, 1 Vern. 58; Bligh v. Darnley, 2 P. Will. 621; Forum
Rom. (h) Crofts v. Oldfield, 3 Swan. 278, note.—(i) 1785, ch. 80, s. 7.—
(f) 1798, ch. 101, sub ch, 8, s, 17.
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