delivered the opinion of the court.
This action was instituted to recover possession of certain slaves, alleged to be the property of the plaintiff, which had been levied upon by one of the defendants, then sheriff, under an execution issued upon a judgment against the plaintiff’s vendors. The plaintiff exhibited an authentic sale, and duly registered in the office of the Register of Conveyances. The defence set up by the seizing creditor of the plaintiff’s vendor is, that the sale was simulated, collusive and fraudulent. That in fact no possession was ever given, and that the whole was intended to defraud the creditors of the vendor.
At the trial, the defendants offered evidence to prove that the sale to the plaintiff was fraudulent and collusive; that the plaintiff had never been in possession of the slaves. This was objected to, on the ground that the sale annexed to the plaintifffs petition could only be set aside by a revocatory action, and it was admitted that the defendant knew of the conveyance before the seizure. The court refused to admit the evidence, except to repel the claim for damages; but which, in fact, the plaintiff had waived, and the defendant took a bill of exceptions.
The general rule recognized by this court is not contested, to wit: that when a purchaser is in possession under a conveyance, the question of fraud cannot be inquired into collaterally, commencing with a seizure ; but the defendants’ counsel endeavors to distinguish this case, and to bring it within the exception settled by the case of Weeks vs Flower, 9 Louisiana Reports, 375. In that case, one if not more of the acts of sale, was under private signature. The sale was of lands, slaves and household furniture, and might be said to be omnium bonorum, and the vendor continued to reside on the
The judgment of the District Court is, therefore, affirmed with costs.