Cite as: 527 U. S. 308 (1999)
Syllabus
(a) The federal courts have the equity jurisdiction that was exercised by the English Court of Chancery at the time the Constitution was adopted and the Judiciary Act of 1789 was enacted. Pp. 318-319.
(b) The well-established general rule was that a judgment fixing the debt was necessary before a court in equity would interfere with the debtor's use of his property. See, e. g., Pusey & Jones Co. v. Hans-sen, 261 U. S. 491, 497. It is by no means clear that there are any exceptions to the general rule relevant to this case, and the lower courts did not address this point. The merger of law and equity did not change the rule, since the merger did not alter substantive rights. The rule was regarded as serving not merely the procedural end of assuring exhaustion of legal remedies, but also the substantive end of giving the creditor an interest in the property which equity could act upon. Pp. 319-324.
(c) The postmerger cases of Deckert v. Independence Shares Corp., 311 U. S. 282, United States v. First Nat. City Bank, 379 U. S. 378, and De Beers Consol. Mines, Ltd. v. United States, 325 U. S. 212, are entirely consistent with the view that the preliminary injunction in this case was beyond the District Court's equitable power. Pp. 324-327.
(d) The English Court of Chancery did not provide a prejudgment injunctive remedy until 1975, and the decision doing so has been viewed by commentators as a dramatic departure from prior practice. Enjoining the debtor's disposition of his property at the instance of a nonjudgment creditor is incompatible with this Court's traditionally cautious approach to equitable powers, which leaves any substantial expansion of past practice to Congress. Pp. 327-329.
(e) The various weighty considerations both for and against creating the remedy at issue here should be resolved not in this forum, but in Congress. Pp. 329-333.
143 F. 3d 688, reversed and remanded.
Scalia, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court with respect to Part II, and the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Kennedy, and Thomas, JJ., joined. Ginsburg, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Stevens, Souter, and Breyer, JJ., joined, post, p. 333.
Richard A. Mescon argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Scott S. Balber and Peter Buscemi.
Drew S. Days III argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Kenneth W. Irvin, Dale C. Christen-
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