Scotland County Nat. Bank v. Hohn

• Decision Date: 01 February 1910
• Parties: SCOTLAND COUNTY NAT. BANK v. HOHN.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

125 S.W. 539

146 Mo. App. 699

SCOTLAND COUNTY NAT. BANK v. HOHN.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

February 1, 1910.

1. BILLS AND NOTES (§ 176)—NEGOTIATION BY INDORSEMENT—"HOLDER" OF NOTE.

Negotiable Instrument Law (Laws 1905, pp. 243-265 [Ann. St. 1906, §§ 463-1 to 463-197]) provides (section 30) that an instrument payable to order is negotiated by indorsement of the holder completed by delivery. Held, that the "holder" of a note before transfer was the payee, and not one who claimed to have possession of it as its agent, and attempted to transfer it by indorsement as agent of, or attorney in fact for, the payee, and not by his personal indorsement.

2. PRINCIPAL AND AGENT (§ 20)—AUTHORITY TO INDORSE NOTES—PROOF THEREOF.

In view of Negotiable Instrument Act (Laws 1905, p. 246 [Ann. St. 1906, § 463-19]) § 19, providing that the signature of a party may be made by a duly authorized agent, without any particular form of appointment, and his authority may be established as in other cases of agency, an agency with authority to indorse notes may be proved as agency is proved in other cases, and by written authority.

3. EVIDENCE (§ 370)—AUTHORITY TO INDORSE NOTES—PROOF THEREOF.

A power of attorney under which one assumed to indorse notes as agent for a Virginia company was signed by it by one styling himself as the "Southern and Western Manager," and purported to be acknowledged before a notary public in Tennessee, who merely certified that it was acknowledged before him. Held, that such instrument, relied on as proof of authority to indorse, was not competent evidence till proof of its execution by the company, which was not offered, and our statute making no provision for acknowledgment of such an instrument, and the certificate not being in the form prescribed, if otherwise competent, it did not authenticate the power as an act of the company, or render it admissible without other proof of its authenticity.

4. PRINCIPAL AND AGENT (§ 119)—AUTHORITY TO INDORSE NOTES—EVIDENCE.

To show that plaintiff held title to notes sued on, indorsed, and transferred by one as

agent of the payee, it is essential to prove the indorser had power to dispose of them.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Scotland County; Chas. D. Stewart, Judge.

Action by the Scotland County National Bank against W. C. Hohn. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed.

O. D. Jones and E. R. Bartlett, for appellant. E. R. McKee, E. Schofield, and J. M. Jayne, for respondent.

GOODE, J.

Action on two promissory notes each dated November 25, 1905, for $150, payable March 20, 1906, and May 20, 1906, after date for value received to order of Planters' Register Company at Scotland County National Bank, of Memphis, Mo., with compound interest at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum. Both notes were indorsed on the back "Planters' Register Co., by C. H. Allison, with power of attorney." They were purchased by the Scotland County National Bank, plaintiff in the action, for $282, or at a discount of 6 per cent., or $18 from the face of the notes. Such was the testimony of the vice president who handled the transaction, and testified, further, that in making the purchase he dealt with C. H. Allison. Testimony was given by him and other witnesses conducing to prove the bank purchased the notes in good faith, before maturity, and in the usual course of business. In the autumn of 1905, C. H. Allison and John or Jack Allison, were engaged in making contracts with farmers in the vicinity of Memphis, Mo., which contracts authorized each person dealt with to act as sole agent for the sale of a publication known as the "Planters' Register" over certain territory. The Allisons purported to represent the Planters' Register Company of Roanoke, Va., and, perhaps, too, the Stone Printing & Manufacturing Company of the same place. Nothing is revealed in the record about the Planters' Register Company except that it was not a corporation, and likely it was a partnership; but the inference is fair that some persons were doing business under that style and owned the copyright of the book called "Planters' Register." The Stone Printing & Manufacturing Company was a corporation, and from a document received in evidence, dated December 9, 1903, and signed by the Stone Printing & Manufacturing Company, we glean something of the relation of that company to the Planters' Register Company. This contract said the Stone Company, in consideration of money deposited with it and other things, had agreed with the Planters' Register Company and parties who might be authorized to sell the Planters' Register that the Stone Company would manufacture copies of the book of certain materials and in a certain form, keep a sufficient number on hand to supply orders promptly, and pack and deliver free on board cars at Roanoke, all copies ordered, charging therefor the price of $1, but would not fill an order if the party ordering meant to sell at retail for less than $3.50 a volume. One or both of the Allisons would approach a farmer, represent to him the book met with a ready sale, that money was to be made by acting as agent to sell it in a particular territory, but to obtain the agency the farmer must execute his note or notes for $300, to be held by C. H. Allison until the person appointed as agent had paid for 300 books at $1 each, when the note would be returned to him; further representing that they (the Allisons) had seven or eight trained men ready at Memphis to help any person who would take an...