Terry v. Little
| Decision Date | 01 October 1879 |
| Citation | 25 L.Ed. 864,101 U.S. 216 |
| Parties | TERRY v. LITTLE |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of North Carolina.
By sect. 4 of the charter of the Merchants' Bank of South Carolina, at Cheraw, it was provided that, in case of the failure of the bank, 'each stockholder, copartnership, or body politic having a share or shares in the said bank at the time of such failure, or who shall have been interested therein at any time within twelve months previous to such failure, shall be liable and held bound individually for any sum not exceeding twice the amount of his, her, or their share or shares.' It is alleged in the declaration that the bank failed March 1, 1865. The general assets have since been collected and applied to the payment of debts, under the provisions of an act of the legislature of South Carolina, passed March 13, 1869, placing the bank in liquidation. Debts to the amount of several hundred thousand dollars are still unpaid. The capital stock was $400,000, divided into shares of $100 each. Of these shares the defendant Benjamin F. Little owned at the time of the failure one hundred and ten, and John P. Little one hundred and fifty-eight. On the 21st of August, 1875, Terry, the plaintiff, commenced an action at law in the court below, against the defendants jointly, to recover from them, on account of their individual liability as stockholders, $5,440, the amount due him from the bank on its bills which he held. The defendants demurred to the declaration, and among others assigned for cause, in substance,—1, that the individual liability of the stockholders as created and defined by this charter could not be enforced in an action at law by one creditor for his sole use to the exclusion of others; and, 2, that even if it could, the defendants cannot be joined in one such action because their liability is not joint but several. The Circuit Court sustained the demurrer and gave judgment for the defendants. This writ of error has been brought to reverse that judgment.
Mr. Harvey Terry for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. Joseph J. Davis, contra.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.
The individual liability of stockholders in a corporation is always a creature of statute. It does not exist at common law. The first thing to be determined in all such cases is, therefore, what liability has been created. There will always be difficulty in attempting to reconcile cases of this class in which the general question of remedy has arisen, unless special attention is given to the precise language of the statute under consideration....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Harrison v. Remington Paper Co.
...and in equity only by a suit for the benefit of all the creditors alike (Pollard v. Bailey, 20 Wall. 520, 22 L.Ed. 376; Terry v. Little, 101 U.S. 216, 25 L.Ed. 864; Patterson v. Lynde, 106 U.S. 519, 1 Sup.Ct. 432, L.Ed. 265). In the year 1868 the Legislature of the state of Kansas, pursuant......
-
Tuttle v. Rohrer
... ... 1, Art. 8; ... Willey v. Decker, 11 Wyo. 496, 73 P. 210.) An ... appropriation of water confers a right of use only ... (Johnson v. Little Horse Co., 13 Wyo. 208, 79 P ... 22.) The permit was without any real value and the allegation ... of "good-faith" should not be considered ... (Tuttle v. National Bank of the Republic, 161 Ill ... 497, 34 L. R. A. 750; Parkhurst v. Mexican S. E. R. R ... Co., 102 Ill.App. 507; Terry v. Little, 101 ... U.S. 216; New Haven Horsenail Co. v. Linden Springs ... Co., 142 Mass. 349; Southworth v. Morgan, 205 ... N.Y. 293.) There is ... ...
-
Erickson v. Richardson, 7885.
...of the stockholders to take and pay for shares in the association. Carrol v. Green, 92 U.S. 509, 512, 23 L.Ed. 738, 739; Terry v. Little, 101 U.S. 216, 25 L. Ed. 864; Concord First National Bank v. Hawkins, 174 U.S. 364, 19 S.Ct. 739, 43 L. Ed. 1007; Matteson v. Dent, 176 U.S. 521, 20 S.Ct.......
-
Russell v. Todd
...their rights and liabilities, and to adjust and settle them by its decrees. Pollard v. Bailey, 20 Wall. 520, 22 L.Ed. 376; Terry v. Little, 101 U.S. 216, 25 L.Ed. 864; Richmond v. Irons, 121 U.S. 27, 7 S.Ct. 788, 30 L.Ed. 864; Christopher v. Brusselback, When the receiver or officer perform......