Holmes v. Robinson

By the Court :

The practice of setting off one judgment against another, between the same parties, and due, in the same rights, is ancient and well established. Some of the adjudged cases go upon the principle of extending the statutes of set-off in their spirit of equity and justice. Others hold the exercise of the power, independent .of the statutes of set-off, and rest it upon the general jurisdiction of .a court over the cause and the parties, when before them. Of the first class of cases, we may cite 3 Wil. 296; 2 Black. 826; 2 Bos. & Pul. 28; 2 Caine, 190. Of the latter, 4 Term, 123; 1…