Colquitt v. Simpson & Ledbetter
| Decision Date | 13 May 1884 |
| Parties | COLQUITT, governor, v. SIMPSON & LEDBETTER. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
February Term, 1884.
[This case was argued at the last term, and the decision reserved.]
1. Where purchasers of property from one who was the president of a bank knew of his position, the law charged them with notice that the bank was a state depository and was required to give bond and security; and this was sufficient to put them on inquiry whether their vendor was not himself one of the sureties which he had, as president, to procure; and they were not purchasers without notice of the state's lien.
2. It was the duty of the president of the bank to make the bond and furnish the sureties thereon, and having executed it as president, and signed it as surety individually, he could not be relieved from liability because the name of one of the sureties which he furnished, and which appeared on the bond after his own was signed, was forged, and not signed by such surety; and purchasers of property from him, who were charged with notice that he was a surety, were subrogated to his position, and could make no defence which he could not make.
( a. ) It was therefore error to grant a new trial to such purchasers on the ground of the forgery.
3. State depositories are not public officers, but are instruments or agencies to keep the public funds. They are sui generis and sui juris, and stand on their own law, embodied in the act of 1879.
( a. ) This differs from the case of the treasurer in 66 Ga. 408.
( b. ) The bond in this case was accepted, approved and kept in the executive office in substantial compliance with the law. It is not required that an entry of filing and recording should be made upon the bond. The recital by the governor, under the seal of the state, is sufficient evidence that the facts existed, unless overcome by proof to the contrary.
( c. ) That the bond was executed a little before the appointment of the bank as a depository can make no difference. It was done in view of the appointment, and had to be executed and approved before it could enter upon the discharge of duty,
State. Bonds. State Depositories. Liens. Notice. Vendor and Purchaser. Officers. Before Judge BRANHAM. Floyd Superior Court. March Adjourned Term, 1883.
An execution, issued by the governor against the Bank of Rome as principal, and C. G. Samuel and certain other persons, as securities on its bond as a state depository, was levied on certain property as the property of Samuel, and Simpson & Ledbetter interposed a claim.
The act of 1879 (Code, §943 (a) to 943 (g)) provides for the appointment by the governor of " a solvent chartered bank of good standing and credit in each of the following cities of this state, … which shall be known and designated as state depositories," and regulates their duties and liabilities. Section 943 (d), on the subject of the bonds of depositories, is as follows:
On November 18, 1879, the governor appointed the Bank of Rome a state depository by the following order:
The bank gave the following bond:
" Know all men by these presents, that we, the Bank of Rome, a body corporate, duly incorporated by act of legislature of the state of Georgia, approved by the governor, March, 2, 1874, as principal, and E. D. Frost, C. G. Samuel, W. L. Prentice, Mattie P. Deason, Samuel Morgan, as securities, do hereby acknowledge ourselves held and bound unto Alfred H. Colquitt, governor of said state of Georgia for the time being, and his successors in office, in the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00), lawful money of the United States of America, subject to the following conditions:
The conditions of the above obligations are such that whereas the above bound Bank of Rome, a corporation duly incorporated and chartered under the laws of the state of Georgia, as aforesaid, was duly appointed for the period of four years from the eleventh day of November, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, by his Excellency, Hon. Alfred H. Colquitt, governor as aforesaid, as a state depository of the funds of the state of Georgia, under the act of the legislature of said state of Georgia, passed October sixteenth (16), eighteen hundred and seventy-nine (1879): Now, if said Bank of Rome shall faithfully perform all such duties as shall be required of it by the general assembly, or the laws of this state, under the act of October the 16th, 1879, or any future act of said general assembly of Georgia on this subject of state depositories, and shall faithfully account for all the public moneys or effects that may come into their hands during the continuance of the said bank of Rome as such state depository, under the act before cited as passed or to be passed; and further, that said Bank of Rome shall well and truly do and perform all and singular the duties required of it by law as state depository, either by act of October 16, 1879, or any future act of the general assembly of the state of Georgia on the subject of state depositories, according to the trust reposed in it, then the above obligation to be void; otherwise, of full force and effect.
BANK OF ROME, [Seal.]
by C. G. SAMUEL, Pres't.
J. S. PANCHEN, [Seal.]
Cashier, Bank of Rome.
J. B. HINE, Notary Public.
After the bond appears the following affidavit:
J. B. HINE, Notary Public. [Seal.]
The copy of the bond used in evidence was certified by the secretary of the executive department that it was " a true copy of the original bond on file in this office, and that said original has on it no entry of filing, approval or of record."
On April 1, 1881, the governor issued an execution against the Bank of Rome and E. D. Frost, Samuel Morgan, C. G. Samuel, W. L. Prentice and M. P. Deason, as sureties, for $50,000.00. This execution recited the appointment of the bank as a depository; that the defendants made and executed the bond in the sum of $50,000.00, the principal through its president and cashier, and each of the sureties signing, sealing and delivering it as required by the act of the legislature; that the bank had received $53,015.76 which it failed to account for " after its acceptance of the office of a state depository, and after the execution of the bond aforesaid, and after the same was duly approved by the governor and filed and recorded in the executive office." It was levied on the land claimed.
Simpson & Ledbetter purchased the land levied on from Samuel, taking a bond for...
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Washington County v. Weiser National Bank
...226 P. 290.) A depository bond is not an official bond. (State v. American Bank & Trust Co., 75 Mont. 369, 243 P. 1093; Colquitt v. Simpson & Ledbetter, 72 Ga. 501; Henry County v. Salmon, 201 Mo. 136, 100 S.W. Barrett v. Stoddard County, 246 Mo. 501, 152 S.W. 43; Compton v. Marengo County ......