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THE CAPE SABLE COMPANY'S CASE. 639
property under an authority different from that of the executions
they had caused to be issued, and levied by the sheriff s® as to
deprive him of his poundage fees, Such a course of proceeding
by those plaintiffs, to the prejudice of the sheriff, would be a fraud
upon him, which I find no ground to impute to them from any of
their manifested intentions. Their consent to the decree for a sale
must, therefore, be considered as an implied admission, that the
sheriff's right should not be affected by it; and that his fees
should be first satisfied out of the proceeds of the sale made under
the decree.
Then as to The Cape Sable Company, and its several corpora-
tors, who were clearly liable in their politic capacity, they could
not surely be allowed in any way to cast off their liability and leave
this sheriff's claim unsatisfied. To turn this sheriff over to his
action at law against this company, grounded on their legal liabi-
lity, would be to leave him without the least redress; since it is
shewn, that he could not even compel them to answer his demand;
as they have no property which could be taken under a distringas
to enforce an answer, (r) For it would seem, a corporation
divested of the means of answering the ends of its institution is
thereby dissolved, (s)
I am therefore of opinion, that the claim of this petitioner is a
just and legal one; and that upon the equity arising out of the
peculiar circumstances of this case, it is indispensably necessary,
that this court should take cognizance of it and grant to the peti-
tioner the relief he asks; and that his claim should be paid in pre-
ference to the plaintiffs in the executions, and The Cape Sable
Company, or any of its corporators.
According to the strict principles of the feudal system, the
feudatory was not allowed to alien any land held by him of his
superior; nor could land so held be sold under an execution for
the payment of debts, lest such a sale might be resorted to as an
indirect mode of alienation. But apart from those principles of
feudal law; land, according to all law, at all times, and every
where, appears to have been considered, in this respect, as a spe-
cies of property deserving the most deliberate regard. Not being
capable, like mere perishable moveables, of being safely, and with-
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(r) Bac. Abr. tit. Corporation, E. 2; Adley v. The Whitstable Company, 17
Ves. 316; S. C,, 1 Meriv. 107. —(s) The King and Queen v. The Mayor of Lon-
don, 12 Mod. 17; S. Ca. 1 Show. 274; Com. Dig. tit. Franchises (G. 5. )
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