Reno v. Wilson

This is a motion against a sheriff for refusing to pay over money received by him on execution. The defence set up is, that he applied the money to an execution in his hands against the plaintiff. The court cannot admit the validity of this de-fence. Money in the possession of a party is subject to levy. 2 Show. 166; Dalton, 145. But the contrary is true where it is in the hands of an officer, for then it is in custodia legis. This principle is fully warranted by the decision of the supreme court of the United States in Turner v. Fendall, 1 Cranch [5 U. S.] 117, — a case parallel in all the…