32 N.J. Eq. 467 | New York Court of Chancery | 1880
On the 30th of March, 1877, there were on deposit in the State Bank at New Brunswick, to the credit of the treasurer of the state of New Jersey, $33,900 of state funds, placed there by that officer, and on that day there was due from that bank to the Trenton Banking Company the sum of $432.50, funds subject to the draft of that company. On that day the state treasurer, having been informed that the
The question presented is, whether it or the state shall prove the claim for the amount of the draft, or, in other words, whether the loss to be sustained in respect to the amount represented by the draft is to be borne by the state or the banking company. It is quite clear that it is to be borne by the former. The amount of the draft was credited by the banking company to the treasurer, on the credit of the latter merely. The transaction was a mere collection for the accommodation of the treasurer, and the credit was given according to the custom of banks in such cases, on the obvious understanding that if the draft should not be collected the credit should be cancelled. No liability to pay the amount of the-draft to the treasurer was incurred by the banking company in the premises, except in case of failure to discharge its duty with respect to collection. It did not, by the credit given to the treasurer, make the claim its own, or in anywise . guarantee collection. Under the circumstances, it was the mere agent of the treasurer for the collection of the draft. Morse on Banks 388 ; Nat. Gold Bank v. McDonald, 51 Cal. 64. And it discharged its whole duty in the collection. It did not wait till the next day, but for
Nor will the fact that it was credited with the amount by the State Bank, under the circumstances, avail to charge the banking company with the draft. The credit was not a payment. Moreover, it was made by the officers of the State Bank at a time when they must have known of the insolvency of their bank, and that it would, in a few minutes afterwards, comparatively, close its doors on that account, .and go into the hands of a receiver.
The debt is not the debt of the banking company, but of the state, and may be proved on behalf of the latter.