Samuel Freeman Miller

Name: Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court
Author: Samuel Freeman Miller

Summary

“Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by Samuel Freeman Miller. It explores elements such as stockholders, failure and liability.

Quotes from Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court (Samuel Freeman Miller)

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ Here, then, in all these instances, what the bank at Cheraw did is called in others bankruptcy, insolvency, failure. Why is it not so with regard to a bank? If there be any difference, it should be in favor of the rule which brings into action the remedies for bank failures. They are more trusted than individuals; their functions are more important; their failures more disastrous to those who deal with them.
It is argued that the suspension of specie payments in 1860, by the banks of South Carolina, was legalized by her legislature. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ His liability depends in every instance on facts peculiar to his own case; for, if the failure of the bank and the date of the failure may be common to all parties charged, it still remains that the ownership of shares, the number of shares, and the time when they were owned, are facts to be established against each man charged, and with which no other defendant has any connection. And in regard to which, if a prima facie case is made, each man may have a distinct defence depending on different testimony. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ If any business man or business firm does the same thing, they are, by the express terms of every bankrupt law, bankrupts. By the bankrupt law of England and of the United States, and by the insolvency laws of Massachusetts and many other States, the person or the partnership in business which is no longer able to pay its current debts as they fall due is insolvent. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ What is meant by 'failure of the bank,' in the clause of its charter which makes the stockholders liable? If a partnership engaged in any mercantile or manufacturing business fails to meet, and pay when demanded, its current business paper as it falls due, that firm is said, in popular language, to have failed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ The liability of the stockholder does not depend on forfeiture of the charter. It is a right given to the creditor of the bank against its stockholders whenever it fails. The duties of the bank to the State depend on other principles, and are within the subsequent control of the legislature. The right of the creditor is beyond its control altogether. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ It is impossible to sustain such a decree, if it was shown they were all citizens of the State of South Carolina. The liability of each one of these stockholders, if liable at all, is his several liability. It is a liability depending upon the statutory contract. It depends on the fact of the failure of the bank, and on his holding shares in the bank when it failed, or within twelve months before its failure. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Samuel Freeman Miller, Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court

“ The bank is not made a party, and no allegation is found in the bill, or anywhere else in the record, of the citizenship of any of the defendants. Of the persons made defendants by the bill, service was only obtained upon twenty, and no appearance was made for any one else.
The bill charges, among other matters, 'that on the first day of March, A.D. 1865, and, indeed, at an earlier date, the said bank had failed, being then indebted to an amount far exceeding its assets ”

Samuel Freeman Miller

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Quotes from Godfrey v. Terry — Opinion of the Court (Samuel Freeman Miller)

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