Court : US Supreme Court
Taylor v. Thomas - 89 U.S. 479 (1874) U.S. Supreme Court Taylor v. Thomas, 89 U.S. 22 Wall. 479 479 (1874) Taylor v. Thomas 89 U.S. (22 Wall.) 479 I N ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI Syllabus After the late rebellion in the Southern states had broken out into war and the government had blockaded all the Southern ports so as to prevent the shipment of the staples of the South, including especially cotton, from them, the rebel Legislature of Mississippi passed (December 19, 1861) an act authorizing the issue of $5,000,000 in what were called cotton notes; negotiable notes in a form suitable for currency, to be issued by the state in sums of $l, $2, $3, $5, $10, $20, and $100. Owners of cotton were to, in effect, hold it pledged to the government, which thereupon gave them an advance on it in these notes, it being agreed on both sides that after the removal of the blockade, and on a proclamation made to that effect, the cotton should be delivered by the owners at some ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Broughton v. Pensacola - 93 U.S. 266 (1876) U.S. Supreme Court Broughton v. Pensacola, 93 U.S. 266 (1876) Broughton v. Pensacola 93 U.S. 266 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Syllabus A change in the charter of a municipal corporation, in whole or part, by an amendment of its provisions, or the substitution of a new charter in place of the old one, embracing substantially the same corporations and the same territory, will not be deemed, in the absence of express legislative declaration otherwise, to affect the identity of the corporation or to relieve it from its previous liabilities, although different powers are possessed under the amended or new charter, and different officers administer its affairs. MR. JUSTICE FIELD delivered the opinion of the Court. By an Act passed on the 2d of March, 1839, by the then Territory, now State, of Florida, the City of Pensacola, at the time a preexisting corporation, was rechartered a...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Terry v. Anderson - 95 U.S. 628 (1877) U.S. Supreme Court Terry v. Anderson, 95 U.S. 628 (1877) Terry v. Anderson 95 U.S. 628 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA Syllabus 1. An enactment reducing the time prescribed by the statute of limitations in force when the right of action accrued is not unconstitutional provided a reasonable time be given for the commencement of a suit before the bar takes effect. 2. This Court concurs in opinion with the Supreme Court of Georgia that the time prescribed by the statute of that state, approved March 16, 1863, in which suits for the enforcement of rights which accrued prior to June 1, 1865, should be brought is not so short or unreasonable, under the circumstances which led to its enactment, as to render it unconstitutional. 3. That statute may be set up as a valid bar to suits brought after Jan. 1, 1870, to enforce the individual liability of the stockholders of a bank in that state f...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Sage v. Central Railroad Company - 99 U.S. 334 (1878) U.S. Supreme Court Sage v. Central Railroad Company, 99 U.S. 334 (1878) Sage v. Central Railroad Company 99 U.S. 334 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF IOWA Syllabus 1. In the mortgage of a railroad, it was covenanted and agreed by all the parties thereto that, in case of a foreclosure sale of the mortgaged property under a decree, the trustee named in the mortgage should, on the written request of the holders of a majority of the then outstanding bonds thereby secured, purchase the property at such sale for the use and benefit of the holders of such bonds, and that the right and title thereto should vest in him, no holder to have any claim to the proceeds except his pro rata share thereof as represented in a new company or corporation, to be formed for their use and benefit, and that the trustee might take such lawful measures to organize a new company for their benefit, upon such term...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Mills v. Scott - 99 U.S. 25 (1878) U.S. Supreme Court Mills v. Scott, 99 U.S. 25 (1878) Mills v. Scott 99 U.S. 25 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA Syllabus 1. The statute of Georgia of March 16, 1869, requiring actions for the enforcement of rights of individuals under acts of incorporation or by operation of law which accrued prior to June 1, 1865, to be brought before Jan. 1, 1870, does not apply to claims against the estate of a deceased person, so as to exclude the time which a previous statute allowed to administrators to ascertain the condition of the estate and to creditors to file their claims. 2. A court of equity is the proper tribunal to ascertain the proportion of indebtedness chargeable to a stockholder of a bank on his personal liability. But as by the law of the state, as declared by its highest tribunal, an action of debt will lie where the amount of the bank's outstanding indebtedness and the number of share...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Jeffrey v. Moran - 101 U.S. 285 (1879) U.S. Supreme Court Jeffrey v. Moran, 101 U.S. 285 (1879) Jeffrey v. Moran 101 U.S. 285 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO Syllabus A railroad company in Ohio was reorganized under a statute of that state of April 11, 1881, the sixth section of which provides as follows: "The lien of the mortgages and deeds of trust authorized to be made by this act shall be subject to the lien of judgments recovered against said corporation -- after its reorganization -- for labor thereafter performed for it, or for materials or supplies thereafter furnished to it, or for damages for losses or injuries thereafter suffered or sustained by the misconduct of its agents, or in any action founded on its contracts, or liability as a common carrier thereafter made or incurred." The new company executed, April 1, 1864, a mortgage on its road to secure the payment of the principal and interest of certain bonds. D...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
County of Morgan v. Allen - 103 U.S. 498 (1880) U.S. Supreme Court County of Morgan v. Allen, 103 U.S. 498 (1880) County of Morgan v. Allen 103 U.S. 498 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS Syllabus 1. Where a county subscribed to the capital stock of a railway company, and issued its bonds therefor, the creditors of the company, on its becoming insolvent, are entitled to enforce the liability of the county on the bonds which are due and unpaid. 2. The Court reaffirms the doctrine announced in Sawyer v. Hoag, l7 Wall. 6l9, and subsequent cases that the assets of an insolvent company, including the moneys due from a shareholder on his subscription to its capital stock, constitute a fund for the payment of its creditors, and that he cannot to their prejudice be released from his liability by any arrangement between it and him which is not fair and honest and for a valuable consideration. The doctrine is applicable where the ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Stevenson v. Texas Railway Company - 105 U.S. 703 (1881) U.S. Supreme Court Stevenson v. Texas Railway Company, 105 U.S. 703 (1881) Stevenson v. Texas Railway Company 105 U.S. 703 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 1. Judgment creditors who cause an execution to be levied upon lands of the defendant in Texas acquire a lien superior to that of his unrecorded mortgage, whereof, at the date of the levy, they had no notice. 2. A purchaser at the sale under that execution is entitled to all the rights of the creditors, and takes the lands freed from the mortgage, although it be recorded before such sale. The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court. MR. JUSTICE MATTHEWS delivered the opinion of the Court. In the view which we have taken of this case, it becomes necessary to decide but a single question. The facts necessary to its determination may be summed up as follows: The Texas and Pacific Railway Company is a corporatio...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Vance v. Vance - 108 U.S. 514 (1883) U.S. Supreme Court Vance v. Vance, 108 U.S. 514 (1883) Vance v. Vance Decided May 7, 1883 108 U.S. 514 I N ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA Syllabus The Civil Code of Louisiana provided, in respect of tutors of minors, as follows: "The property of the tutor is tacitly mortgaged in favor of the minor from the day of his appointment as tutor, as security for his administration, and for the responsibility which results from it." The Constitution of Louisiana, subsequently adopted in April, 1868, provided as follows: "No mortgage or privilege shall hereafter affect third parties, unless recorded in the parish where the property to be affected is situated. The tacit mortgages and privileges now existing in this state shall cease to have effect against third persons after the 1st January, 1870, unless duly recorded. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the registration of all mortgages and privileges." The Legis...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Gilfillan v. Union Canal Co. of Pennsylvania - 109 U.S. 401 (1883) U.S. Supreme Court Gilfillan v. Union Canal Co. of Pennsylvania, 109 U.S. 401 (1883) Gilfillan v. Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania Argued April 20, 1883 Decided November 26, 1883 109 U.S. 401 I N ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus 1. A provision in an act for the reorganization of an embarrassed corporation which provides that all holders of its mortgage bonds who do not, within a given time named in the act, expressly dissent from the plan of reorganization shall be deemed to have assented to it and which provides for reasonable notice to all bondholders does not impair the obligation of a contract, and is valid. 2. When a corporation, being embarrassed, and owing money to its mortgage bondholders and to others, was authorized by the legislature from which it obtained its franchises to make settlement with its creditors on a plan which provided that all holders of its mortg...
Tag this Judgment!