186 A. 600 | Pa. | 1936
Argued May 18, 1936. The Commonwealth, by Klein, its escheator, filed this petition averring that in certain equity proceedings in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,1 certain sums were found to be *483 due and payable to described bondholders; that some creditors, so found to be entitled, had not claimed payment, whereupon the court directed that such unclaimed funds be paid into its registry; that after the lapse of five years2 the unclaimed moneys were deposited to the credit of the Treasury of the United States. The petition averred that "such deposit [was] made by a bookkeeping entry in the Federal Reserve Bank in the City of Philadelphia, transferring the said moneys from the account of the Registry of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to the account of the Treasury of the United States." The petition also set forth that the Act of Congress3 provided "Any person or persons or any corporation or company entitled to any such money may, on petition to the court from which the money was received, or its successor, and upon notice to the United States attorney and full proof of right thereto, obtain an order of court directing the payment of such money to the claimant, and the money deposited as aforesaid shall constitute and be a permanent appropriation for payments in obedience to such orders."
The Commonwealth averred that the unclaimed money escheated to it; that in April 17, 1934, a petition on its behalf was filed in the district court4 for an order directing payment, as an escheat, to the Commonwealth; and that on September 6, 1934, an opinion was filed by DICKINSON, J., dismissing the petition for want of jurisdiction and without prejudice.
Petitioner averred that a decree of escheat was necessary to qualify its escheator under the decision of the district court and the Act of Congress to present, in that *484 court, the claim of the Commonwealth as the person entitled to the escheat.
Notice of the petition was given to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; he appeared specially and moved to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, assigning the following reasons: "(a) The Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia for the State of Pennsylvania has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition above mentioned in that this court cannot exercise jurisdiction as the state statutes are void in so far as they attempt to escheat moneys in the custody of the United States or in the custody of its court.
"(b) The funds sought to be escheated are in the Treasury of the United States as is alleged in the petition and therefore are not within the jurisdiction of the courts of Pennsylvania.
"(c) The state law confers no jurisdiction upon any state court for the escheat of funds in the Treasury of the United States." The petition was dismissed and the Commonwealth has appealed.
The Act of May 2, 1889, P. L. 66, and amendments and supplements provide for escheat proceedings. In this case, the Commonwealth depends on the following amendment of June 28, 1935, P. L. 47 "Whenever an escheat has occurred, or shall occur, of any money or property deposited in the custody of, or under the control of, any court of the United States in and for any district within this Commonwealth, or in the custody of any depository, clerk or other officer of such court, the court of common pleas of the county in which such court of the United States sits, shall have jurisdiction to ascertain if an escheat has occurred, and to enter a judgment or decree of escheat in favor of the Commonwealth."
We all agree that the learned court erred in dismissing the petition for want of jurisdiction. The power to declare an escheat is in the Commonwealth. It is a power that was not delegated to the federal government, though its exercise by a state may be restricted in the fields *485
where the power of Congress is exclusive: cf. First Nat. Bankv. State of California,
The United States Attorney does not claim that the property has escheated to the federal government or that the federal government can escheat it. His contention is that the State has no power "to escheat moneys presently in the Treasury of the United States." It is well settled that the State has power to take possession of unclaimed property as an escheat:Security Savings Bank v. California,
The order appealed from is reversed and the record is remitted for further proceedings.