Wheeler v. Greene

Decision Date04 November 1929
Docket NumberNo. 39,39
PartiesWHEELER v. GREENE
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. Floyd E. Thompson, of Chicago, Ill., Joseph Very Quarles, of Milwaukee, Wis and Henry Jackson Darby, of Chicago, Ill., for petitioner.

Messrs. Edwin S. Mack and Arthur W. Fairchild, both of Milwaukee, Wis., for respondent.

Mr. Justice HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.

The plaintiff is the Receiver of the Bankers' Joint Stock Land Bank of Millwaukee appointed by the Federal Farm Loan Board. The defendant is a holder of stock of that Bank. This suit is brought to collect an assessment equal in amount to the par value of the defendant's stock, which was levied by the Federal Farm Loan Board and which the plaintiff was ordered to collect. The defendant demurred to the declaration that alleged these facts. The District Court sustained the demurrer and ordered judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff appealed and the judgment was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Greene v. Wheeler, 29 F.(2d) 468. A writ of certiorari was granted by this Court to settle the question whether the Federal Farm Loan Board had power to levy an assessment, or the Receiver to maintain suit, for the enforcing of the stockholders' liability created by the Federal Farm Loan Act, July 17, 1916, c. 245, § 16, 39 Stat. 374, U. S. Code, title 12, § 812 (12 USCA § 812).

The section (section 29, U. S. Code, title 12, §§ 961, 963 (12 USCA §§ 961, 963)) of the Federal Farm Loan Act that deals with insolvency of farm loan associations and joint stock land banks provides for the appointment of a receiver by the Farm Loan Board and states his duties and powers. It closely follows the words of the earlier National Bank Act., Rev. St. § 5234, U. S. Code, tit. 12, § 192 (12 USCA § 192), stating the duties of the receiver of a bank that has refused to pay its circulating notes, and giving him power to take possession of books and assets and to collect debts, etc. But whereas the Bank Act goes on 'and may, if necessary to pay the debts of such association, enforce the individual liability of the stockholders,' the Farm Loan Act stops short and has no such words. When so important a grant of power contained in the prototype is left out from the copy it is almost impossible to attribute the omission to anything but design, or to believe that it left to very attenuated implications what the model before it so clearly expressed.

There is a plain reason for the difference. The national banks issue notes that constitute an important part of the currency of the country and that the United States has an interest in seeing paid. It is upon the bank's refusal to pay these notes that the Comptroller of the Currency is to appoint a receiver, and the authority to enforce the stockholder's liability adds a security to the national circulation that is of national scope. But the...

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51 cases
  • Richardson v. Kelly
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • December 29, 1945
    ...paid in and represented by their shares." The Supreme Court after pointing out that it had previously held in Wheeler v. Greene, 280 U.S. 49, 50 S.Ct. 21, 74 L.Ed. 160, that there was no provision in the Federal Farm Loan Act which authorized the Federal Farm Loan Board to levy an assessmen......
  • Russell v. Todd
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • February 26, 1940
    ...to levy an assessment on the stockholders of an insolvent bank or to maintain a suit to enforce their liability. Wheeler v. Greene, 280 U.S. 49, 50 S.Ct. 21, 74 L.Ed. 160; Christopher v. Brusselbank, 302 U.S. 500, 502, 58 S.Ct. 350, 351, 82 L.Ed. 388; Brusselback v. Cago Corporation, 2 Cir.......
  • Friede v. Sprout
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • June 2, 1936
    ...the demurrer, and reported his interlocutory action in so doing, under G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 231, § 111. It is plain from Wheeler v. Greene, 280 U.S. 49, 50 S.Ct. 21, 74 L.Ed. 160, that the Federal Farm Loan Board could not have levied an assessment if it had wished to do [2 N.E.2d 551]so, and t......
  • Friede v. Sprout
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • June 2, 1936
    ... ... action in so doing, under G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 231, § 111 ...          It is ... plain from Wheeler v. Greene, 280 U.S. 49, 50 S.Ct ... 21, 74 L.Ed. 160, that the Federal Farm Loan Board could not ... have levied an assessment if it had wished to ... ...
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