Comm'r of Banks v. Highland Trust Co.

• Decision Date: 24 May 1933
• Citation: 283 Mass. 71,186 N.E. 229
• Parties: COMMISSIONER OF BANKS v. HIGHLAND TRUST CO. et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

283 Mass. 71

186 N.E. 229

COMMISSIONER OF BANKS

v.HIGHLAND TRUST CO. et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex.

May 24, 1933.

Appeal from Supreme Judicial Court; Pierce, Justice.

Petition by the Commissioner of Banks in possession of the Highland Trust Company for instructions on point whether the Commonwealth was a preferred creditor for excise taxes due from the trust company. From a decree to the effect that it was not a preferred creditor for such taxes, the Commonwealth appeals.

Decree affirmed.C. F. Lovejoy, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the Commonwealth.

F. G. Moulton, of Boston, for the Commissioner of Banking.

RUGG, Chief Justice.

This is a petition by the commissioner of banks in possession of the Highland Trust Company for instructions on the point whether the Commonwealth is entitled to be paid in full as a preferred creditor the excise taxes due under the law from the trust company, or whether it must file proof of claim for such excise taxes and accept in satisfaction such dividend as may later he made to non-preferred creditors of the commercial department of the trust company. There is no dispute as to the amount or legality of the excise taxes. A decree was entered to the effect that the Commonwealth was not a preferred creditor for such excise taxes and that it must file proof of claim for the amount thereof and accept such dividend thereon as might be declared to general creditors. The appeal of the Commonwealth brings the case here.

Detailed provisions are made by statute to enable the commissioner of banks to take possession of the property and business of a trust company under specified conditions when demanded by the public welfare to liquidate its affairs and to distribute its assets by way of dividends. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 167, §§ 22 to 36, both inclusive. This is a comprehensive statute. It purports to cover the whole field. It declares a legislative policy touching the subject. The commissioner acts as a public officer and not as a receiver appointed by the court. His authority is found in the statute and not in any judicial decree. Although he is vested with powers often conferred upon receivers, and subject in many particulars to the control of the court, he is nevertheless a public officer with whose appointment and conduct as prescribed by the statute the court has no responsibility. He performs duties imposed upon him in the main by the statute. It is a general principle that the enactment of a statute, seemingly designed to embrace completely a branch of administrative law, impliedly repeals the statutes and supersedes the common law theretofore governing the subject. School Committee of Lowell v. Mayor of Lowell, 265 Mass. 353, 356, 357, 164 N. E. 91, and cases cited. O'Connor v. Boyden, 268 Mass. 111, 114, 167 N. E. 268;Knowlton v. Swampscott, 280 Mass. 69, 181 N. E. 849.

No provision is to be found in the statutes giving to the Commonwealth a preference over other creditors for the payment of its excise taxes when a trust company is in process of liquidation by the commissioner. That matter is omitted. Preferences of that nature are established as to settlements of estates by receivers by G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 206, § 31. Trust companies were taken out of the operation of receivership laws by St. 1910, c. 399, when the present law in its main features was enacted. It contained no provisions as to preferences of sums due to the Commonwealth. It would have been simple to include a clause to that effect if it had been intended. Preferences are established in favor of the Commonwealth by G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 216, § 118, as to insolvent estates, although that chapter is suspended by the federal bankruptcy law (11 USCA); but the insolvency statute does not apply to banks. Section 143. Taxes have a precedence in obligation for payment because government depends for its support upon their prompt and full payment. But...