27 Conn. 229 | Conn. | 1858
We discover no question of difficulty in this case. The plaintiff having deposited with the defend
The charter declares that “ all deposits of money received by said corporation shall be used and improved to the best advantage,” &c. “and that the principal of such deposit or deposits may be withdrawn by the owner or owners thereof, or by any person or persons duly authorized for said purpose, on giving notice of such intention in writing, and lodging the same with the secretary of the corporation, at least four months previous to withdrawing such deposit or deposits.” This previous notice we infer was waived in this case, as it certainly could be by the bank, it being a condition solely for its benefit. Clearly the money could be legally demanded and received of the defendants, only by the depositor or his attorney, or in case of his death, by his executor or administrator. And were it important, we might add that this is the very language of the by-law.
It is said that the defendants are mere bailees of the money, and as such, are responsible only for ordinary care. Suppose this were so, which however we do not admit, it would not help the defendants ; for it would be no excuse for paying the money to an unauthorized person ; and one with a forged authority is no better. We think that the defendants are not bailees,'but a banking corporation, with the usual powers and duties of banks, except that they are not a bank of issue and circulation, and the capital is liable to be withdrawn upon notice. They do not take money to be used and held in trust, as is intimated, nor to be specifically restored, more than in any case of a loan of money or a deposit in a bank, but on the contrary they take it and use it as their own, to be restored at all events when called for.
But it appears that the defendants paid this money to a
It is said there is great difficulty in conducting this kind of business if more than the book is required as an authority for the payment of the money; that many of the depositors can not write, nor sign a receipt even, so as to identify themselves by their hand-writing; and that as to knowing them personally, or learning their places of residence, when they are shifting them from month to month, is a thing quite impracticable. This may be true, but without some agreement to that effect these inconveniences cannot annul the universally acknowledged and indispensable principle of the common law mentioned above.
It is again said that a general practice of this kind has prevailed among the savings banks of this city, and that this furnishes authority enough to justify the defendants. If this be the general practice it cannot avail here, because this book declares that the money is payable to the depositor or his order, or to his legal representatives, on the presentation
We advise judgment for the plaintiff.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Judgment for plaintiff advised.