Dickinson v. the Planters Bank

• Citation: 16 Wall. 250,83 U.S. 250,21 L.Ed. 278
• Parties: DICKINSON v. THE PLANTERS' BANK
• Decision Date: 01 December 1872
• Court: United States Supreme Court

83 U.S. 250

21 L.Ed. 278

16 Wall. 250

DICKINSON v. THE PLANTERS' BANK.

December Term, 1872

ERROR to the Circuit Court for the District of Tennessee; the case being thus:

One William Dickinson, a manufacturer of salt at Kanawha, in that part of Virginia now called West Virginia, had an agent selling the salt in Tennessee and thereabouts. By direction of Dickinson, this agent took the proceeds, and with them bought a draft of the Planters' Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville, on the Bank of Virginia, at Richmond; the former bank crediting the latter with the amount. The draft was in this form:

$5224.25.

PLANTERS' BANK OF TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE, NOV. 14, 1861.

Pay to the order of William Dickinson, fifty-two hundred and twenty-four 25/100 dollars.

D. WEAVER, Cashier.

To Cashier of Bank of Virginia, Richmond.

On his way from Nashville to Kanawha, the agent learned that on the 15th of November, that is to say, one day after the date of the draft, Dickinson had died. Accordingly, on

arriving, December 6th, at Kanawha, he handed the draft and other papers connected with his agency to Dickinson's son, also named William Dickinson, who, by a will that the father had left in a bank at Lynchburg, Virginia, was appointed executor of the father's estate. These were times of the rebellion, and Lynchburg, Nashville, and Richmond were all within the Confederate lines, having at the time and for some time afterwards communication with each other, while Kanawha, being in West Virginia, was within the lines of the Federal government, and had no intercourse with any of them. Dickinson, the son and executor, was quite desirous to get the money on his draft, but being reputed to be a 'Union man,' could not with safety go to Lynchburg, to get his father's will, or to Richmond, between which and Kanawha, from 1862 till the surrender of the rebel army in 1865, there was no lawful intercourse. He, however, indorsed the check with his own name, identical with that of his father, and by that means sought to negotiate it through a Virginia bank. It being known, however, at the bank to which he applied, that the 'William Dickinson' named as payee, was the father and not the son, and the will not having been yet proved, no negotiation of the draft could be made. Dickinson, the son, then, March, 1864, applied to the Federal headquarters for a pass to get through the Union lines, but was refused; nor could he get any pass till February, 1865, when getting papers from the headquarters of both armies, and having got the will and had it proved, he went to Richmond in the latter part of May, 1865, which the evidence went to show was as soon as he could get there, and indorsing his draft properly, presented it for payment. Payment was refused, the bank having recently become insolvent. He then had the draft protested by a notary, and directed the notary to give notice of the dishonor to the Planters' Bank of Tennessee at Nashville, and that the holder would look to that bank for payment. A notice to the Planters' Bank of Tennessee was accordingly deposited by the notary in in the post-office; but that it was directed to the Planters' Bank of Tennessee at Nashville Tennessee, was not so clearly shown. The cashier of that bank testified that he received no notice. It was not denied that the Bank of Virginia, at Richmond, had funds during all this time of the Planters' Bank.

Dickinson, as executor of his father's estate, now brought assumpsit in the court below, against the Planters' Bank of Tennessee. The narr contained two counts; the first special on the draft; and the second for money had and received. The bank pleaded the general issue, and on the trial relied apparently in part on the non-intercourse act of July 13th, 1861 (chapter 3), and the President's proclamation of August 16th of the same year. The parties having taken depositions on both sides, 'filed,' as appeared by a recital in the judgment in the case, 'a stipulation in writing with the clerk of that court, waiving a jury, and the cause came on to be tried and determined by the court.'

An act of March 3d, 1865, thus enacts:

'SECTION 4. That issues of fact in civil cases in any Circuit Court of the United States, may be tried and determined by the court without the intervention of a jury, whenever the parties or their attorneys of record file a stipulation in writing with the clerk of the court waiving a jury. The finding of the court upon the facts, which finding may be either general or special, shall have the same effect as the verdict of a jury. The rulings of the court in the cause in the progress of the trial, when excepted to at the time, may be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States upon a writ of error or upon appeal, provided the rulings be duly presented by a bill of exceptions. When the finding is special, the review may also extend to the determination of the sufficiency of the facts found to support the judgment.'

The court gave an 'opinion' and subsequently a judgment. They were in these words.

OPINION.

The court, after hearing the testimony and argument of counsel on both sides, is of opinion, and doth declare that the bank check drawn by the Planters' Bank of Tennessee on the Bank of Virginia, at Richmond, on the 14th of November, 1861, was so drawn by the request of the agent of William Dickinson, the plaintiff's testator, and in pursuance of the instructions of said William in his lifetime; that the said contract was not an illegal transaction according to the provisions of the non-intercourse act of July 13th, 1861 (chapter 3), and the proclamation of the President of the 16th of August, 1861, as it was drawn at Nashville on Richmond, both of which were in the lines of the Confederate or rebel government, and no agreement existing that it was to be sent beyond those lines, where intercourse was prohibited; that at the time when said check was drawn, and for several weeks afterwards, there was regular communication by mail and railroad between Richmond and Nashville, and the Planters' Bank drew checks from time to time, until the latter part of February, 1862, for considerable sums of money, which were paid by said bank at Richmond, and that at the time of drawing the check of the 14th November, 1861, and during the whole period of the civil war, and afterwards, the Planters' Bank had funds in the said Bank of Virginia, at Richmond, and that said bank is now indebted to the Planters' Bank of Tennessee in a large sum of money, and that said Bank of Virginia is insolvent. It further appeared to the court that, on the day of the drawing of the check by the Planters' Bank specified in the declaration, a credit was given on their books to the said Bank of Virginia for the amount of said check so drawn.

This court is of opinion, and doth declare that this check, when executed and delivered to the agent of William Dickinson, was an absolute appropriation of so much money in the Bank of Virginia to the holder of the check, to remain there until called for, and could not, therefore, be afterwards withdrawn by the drawers. If the holder of the check chose to transmit the same to the country with which intercourse was prohibited, and by the casualties of war or other accidents, it was rendered difficult or impossible to present the check for payment, and the bank on which it was drawn became insolvent, the drawer of the check having the funds in the Virginia bank would not be responsible for the loss by such insolvency.

This court is also of opinion that there is not sufficient evidence of a notice to the defendant of the demand and protest of the check, which protest was made on the 30th of May, 1865. The cashier of the bank received no notice, as he states in his testimony, and it is not proved that the notice was directed to Nashville, the place of business of the defendant, but only to the Planters' Bank of Tennessee.

The plaintiff's counsel excepted to the opinion and rulings of the court, discharging the defendant from responsibility upon the draft sued on.

The plaintiff further requested the court to find and so decide, that William Dickinson, the owner of this draft, having died in...