Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ As a matter of law there is nothing new in charging a party with knowledge of what it is his duty to know, in this case the insolvency of the bank, or with assent to deposits that he must expect while the bank's doors remain open. But the essential thing is that whether in a roundabout or a perfectly natural way the statute has said if you take the office you must take the consequences of knowledge whether you have it or not. In most contracts men take the risk of events over which they have imperfect or no control. The acceptance of a directorship is as voluntary an act as a contract. ”

“ Every director of a bank shall be personally liable to depositors for every deposit accepted by the bank after it has become insolvent all objections would be met by the answer, You took the office on those terms. The statute would be none the worse if it allowed a defence in the single case of the defendants having made an honest examination and having been led to believe that the bank was solvent. The mention of assent and evidence of knowledge cannot be pressed to conclusions that the statute manifestly does not allow. ”

“ It is said that the liability is founded by the statute upon the directors' assent to the deposit and that when this is the ground the assent cannot be proved by artificial presumptions that have no warrant from experience. ”