State ex rel. Martin v. Farmers & Merchants Bank
State ex rel. Martin v. Farmers & Merchants Bank
Opinion of the Court
In 1909 the legislature enacted a statute entitled “An act for the regulation, supervision and control of the business of banking, and to provide penalties for its violation.” Laws 1909, ch. 10. Section 45 provided for statements to the state banking board once in six months showing the average daily deposits for the period subsequent to the next preceding statement, and that the state banking board shall within 30 days after such statement levy assessments thereon, the first four assessments to be one-fourth of one per cent, of the average daily, deposits, and afterwards one-twentieth of one per cent. It was provided that the first statement should be made within 30 days after the act took effect, and the second on the 1st day of December, 1909. Section 4(5 of the act, as originally enacted, provided that as soon as the assessments were made the bank should “set apart, keep and maintain in their said banks the amount thus levied against them,” and that the amount so kept should constitute a “depositors’ guaranty fund,” payable to the state banking fund on demand for the uses and purposes hereinafter provided. Section 47 of the original act provided that if the funds from any cause prior to July 1, 1910, should be reduced to an amount less than one-half of the one per cent, of the average daily deposits, or after that date should be reduced to an amount less than one per cent, of the average daily deposits, a special assessment should be levied to cover such deficiency not exceeding one per cent., of the average daily deposit in any one year. All proceedings under the act were enjoined by the federal courts. The injunctions were continued in force until the supreme court of the United States determined that the act did not violate any provision of the federal constitution. Shallenberger v. First State Bank, 219 U. S. 114. The mandate of the supreme court reversing the decision of the lower court was received and filed in the circuit court on the 30th day of March, 1911. Thereupon the
In October, 1911, the attorney general began this action in the district court for Burt county to procure a Avrit of mandamus to compel the respondent to file with the state banking board a statement “showing the average daily deposits in the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Oakland, Nebraska, for the six months next preceding the 25th day of June, 1909; for the six months next preceding the 1st day of December, 1909; for the six months next preceding the 1st day of June, 1910; for the six months next preceding the 1st day of December, 1910; and for the period between the 1st day of December, 1910, and the 26th day of May,
By the act of 1911 the following proviso was added to section 45: “Provided, however, that if any bank now operating under a charter issued by the state desires to go into voluntary liquidation or change to a national bank before the assessments provided for in this section become due and payable, the provisions of this section shall not release said bank from the payment of any assessments now due from it to the depositors’ guaranty fund as provided for in chapter 8 of the Compiled Statutes for 1909. In the event that any bank now operating under a charter issued by this state voluntarily liquidates or changes to a national bank before, the assessments provided for in this section become due and payable, the provisions of chapter 8 of the Compiled Statutes for 1909, shall, in so far as said banks are concerned, be in full force and effect and shall govern and control, and in the event said bank goes into voluntary liquidation or changes to a national bank before the assessments provided for in this section become due and payable, the provisions of chapter 8 of the Compiled Statutes for 1909 shall be and remain in full force and effect, and the amount due from said bank on the assessment provided for in chapter 8 of the Compiled Statutes for 1909 shall be paid by said bank to the secretary of the banking board; said amount shall be by the. secretary of the banking board placed on deposit to the credit of the depositors’ guaranty fund in any bank to be designated by the secretary of the banking board, said funds to be subject to the order of the banking board.” Also the act of 1911 (Iuavs 1911, sec. 2, p. 85) repealed all of the aforesaid sections “as the same now exist,” and to the repealing clause added the following proviso: “Provided, however, that nothing in this act contained, repealing any part of chapter 8 of the Compiled Statutes for 1909, shall be construed to release any chartered bank in this state that goes into voluntary liquidation or changes
1. The respondent insists that the original sections were entirely repealed by the act of 1911, and that no liability can be predicated thereon; that the provision of section 11, art. Ill of the constitution, that “no law shall be amended unless the new act contains the section or sections so amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed,” requires the legislature to repeal the whole section when it is amended, and that it is incompetent to repeal it in part only. The relator insists that, if the constitution forbids such repeal, then the Avhole act of 1911 is invalid, and the defendant is liable under the original act. He cites Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas, 177 U. S. 28, upon this proposition. In that case it was held: “A repeal of Tex. act 1889, permitting foreign corporations to do business in the state, does not result from the provision of Tex. act 1895, exempting labor organizations, on the ground that this provision is unconstitutional, since, if it were so, the entire act would
2. Can banks be classified upon such basis for such a purpose? Amendment XIY to the federal constitution extends the equal protection of the laws to banks and individuals interested in banks. It is contended that to distinguish between banks that continue as state banks and those that become national banks would be allowable for some purposes under the authorities, and that when so classified they may be subjected to different restrictions. The basis for classification must have some relation to the purpose for which the classification is made. Banks may be classified upon the basis of the amount of their capital stock for some purposes. Our statute so classifies them. A bank with a capital stock of $25,000, or more, may be located in towns and villages of 1,000 inhabitants, but banks with less capital stock cannot. A statute that provided that banks with a capital stock of $25,000 should be exempt from assessments for the guaranty fund while participating in the benefits thereof, but banks with a less capital should not be exempt from such assessments, would
The judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State, ex rel. Grant G. Martin, Attorney General v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Oakland
- Status
- Published