Edward Henry Durell
Judge Durell no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Durell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He read the federal bankruptcy power as superior to and exclusive of state jurisdiction over the estate a debtor surrenders, so that no state-court process could withdraw the property or dictate how it is disposed of.
“The jurisdiction of a district court of the United States sitting as a court of bankruptcy, is superior and exclusive in all matters arising under the statute.”
He harmonized the federal bankruptcy power with Louisiana's civil-law mortgage regime, reasoning that because a Louisiana mortgagee bargains only for a sale (not possession or common-law foreclosure), a bankruptcy sale protects the mortgagee's interest as fully as state law would.
“in Louisiana a sale of the land is all that the mortgagee bargains for, and such sale is secured by the bankrupt act as fully as by the laws of the state.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Orders will, therefore, be made and issued in conformity with the prayers of the petitioners.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
As U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana (1863-1866) and then the District of Louisiana (1866-1874), Durell carried a Civil War and Reconstruction-era federal docket that included admiralty and prize matters in the port of New Orleans and a heavy bankruptcy practice under the Bankrupt Act of 1867, for which he promulgated the district's bankruptcy rules. No electronic docket exists to quantify this caseload.
A historical record
Judge Durell no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.