46 A.D. 37 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1899
In this proceeding the appellant seeks to compel the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company to connect a ticker in the petitioner’s office with its telegraph wires and to.furnish him with quotations of transactions upon the New York Stock Exchange from time to time, as they are made, in the same manner and for the same price as they are furnished to others. The petition upon which the appellant
The telegraph company served its answer to said petition, alleging that the property of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company had been leased to the Western Union- Telegraph Company, and that the business of transmitting quotations from the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges had been and was managed and conducted entirely by the Western Union Telegraph Company ; that prior to November 19, 1892, the respondents had been in the habit of collecting information as to the price at which stocks, bonds and other securities dealt in on such -exchange had been sold, and transmitting -such information -to its subscribers by means of these instruments, but that subsequent to November 19, 1892, the said New York Stock Exchange, availing itself of a right belonging to it, excluded the employees of the said respondent from access to the exchange,^itself collected the information and sold or transferred the same to the Western Union Telegraph Company, which thereupon and thereafter transmitted such information furnished by the New York Stock Exchange or its employees to ■ persons employing it to furnish them with quotations of stocks dealt in upon the New York Stock Exchange; that the said exchange thereafter, for its own protection and to prevent the improper and illicit use of quotations of stocks dealt-in upon the said New York Stock Exchange by bucket shops and persons disposed to use the same for the purpose of defrauding the public, insisted upon its right to dictate the persons who should be entitled to- receive the said - quotations, and -determined to give out the same only to such persons as the said stock exchange was satisfied -would use the same properly and not to the disadvantage or defrauding of the public, and it thenceforth
By the agreement between the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the New York Stock Exchange, in force prior to June 30, 1897, and which,: by the arrangements-between them, wras continued from day to day it was provided - that the stock exchange- “ agrees at its own cost- and expense to collect, furnish and transmit to the telegraph company in the manner hereinafter provided, for distribution by the telegraph company, as hereinafter provided, full and continuous reports of the current transactions, news, quotations- and statistics made or originating in the Stock Exchange, of such things as are or may be dealt in by the members -thereof during the hours for trading prescribed by its rules, and also the changes which
The purpose of this agreement is obvious. By it the New York Stock Exchange retains control of information as to the transactions-made between its members upon its premises, and furnishes such information to the respondents for a specific purpose, the .respondents undertaking not to furnish such information to others, except in accordance with the provisions of this agreement. As this agreement continues from day to day the stock exchange has the privi
The- answer also alleges that the appellant applied to the Western Union • Telegraph .Company to he furnished with -quotations ; that said- application was duly transmitted in good faith hy the respondents to the officers of the stock: exchange; that- the said exchange; for reasons not stated to the respondents, denied such application and refused to permit -such quotations to be furnished hy means of a ticker, and for that reason the respondents refused to place a ticker in the office of the appellant. . . . ■
' The statute under which the respondents are incorporated (Chap. 265, Laws of 1848,as amd. by chap. 559, Laws of 1855) provides in section-11 that “It shall be.the-duty of the owner or the association owning any telegraph-line doing business within this State to receive despatches ■' from and- for other telegraph' lines and associations,•• and from and for'any-'individual, and on. payment of their usual charges for individuals for transmitting- despatches, as established by the rules ■ and -regulations of such ■' telegraph-' line, -to' transmit the same-with 'impartiality and good faith;” that “It-shall likewise be. the duty of every such owner or association tó trans» mit all despatches in the order in- which they' are. received.”-' (Laws of 1848, chap. 265, § 12.) - Such provision- is continued dn the Transportation Corporations Law (Chap. 566, Laws of 1890; §103); and' by-chapter 340 of the Laws of 1850, amending-the act of 1848, it is'made a misdemeanor for any person connected with a telegraph company to' divulge ‘the -contents of any message delivered " for transmission,- which provision has been continued in-the. revision-of the General Laws. 1
The New'York Stock Exchange is a voluntary association. “It has the right to admit to its floor whom it. pleases; it obtained' nothing from the State except that protection' which the law' affords to every citizen ; it has sought no special privilege'and obtained lio special powers.- It is, therefore, just, as much the' master- of its own business and of the -method of dondncting the same as any private individual within the State.. It may make public the transactions which occur within its walls, or it may refuse all information in respect thereto. No matter which course is pursued, so long as it violates no law, it has a right tó conduct its business as it pleases.”
This private voluntary association, being thus in control of its own property, and having the absolute right to give information as to the dealings of its members with each other to whom it pleases, and upon such conditions as it pleases to impose, gives certain information to the defendants to be delivered to certain specified persons, and upon condition that the defendants-give such information to such specified individuals and none other.. The appellant, being one of those to whom the stock "exchange refused to' allow the information furnished by it to the telegraph .company to- be transmitted, asked the court, by mandamus, to compel the telegraph company to violate the conditions upon which such information had been received by it, and to furnish such information to him.
We fail to see any principle upon which this application could'be . granted. It may be conceded that the respondents are corporations charged with the performance of public duties, are under the control Of the Legislature, and may be compelled by mandamus to perform their obligations to the public. The obligation that they assume is to receive' and transmit communications. N'o statute requires a telegraph company to communicate to the public despatches which it has received from certain individuals to be transmitted to specified persons; on the contrary, such a communication is prohibited. I cannot see that it makes any difference whether a despatch is given to a telegraph company to be communicated to a single individual, or* to be communicated to ten, a hundred or a thousand individuals. Under this agreement between the stock exchange and the respondents, certain information is given to the telegraph company to be communicated to individuals or corporations designated by the stock exchange'. Whether we call this information a special despatch or general information which the stock exchange desires to communicate, seeihs to me to be entirely immaterial. ' The fact that the telegraph company pays to the stock exchange a certain sum of money for the information which it receives to transmit is also immaterial. The substance is that those to whom this information is directed to be given by the stock exchange are willing to pay the stock exchange for such information, and are also willing to pay the telegraph company the expense of transmitting the information.
An entirely different question was presented when the respondents procured the information themselves, and furnished such information to the public. It may be that, under such circumstances, the respondents were bound to furnish the information thus collected to all persons who were willing to comply with the conditions imposed by the respondents as a condition for rendering the services. There can be no doubt of the fact that the appellant could require the respondents to transmit any communication sent to him from others, or that he wished to send to others; and if the stock exchange desired to communicate to him information as to the dealings between its members, there could be no doubt of the duty of the respondents to comply with such request. But until the stock exchange consents to the appellant receiving such information as it supplies to the telegraph company for transmission, I cannot see that the court has 4the right to compel the stock exchange to furnish such information to the appellant.
We are referred to several cases from other States, notably to the case of New York & Chicago G. & S. Exch. v. Board of Trade of the City of Chicago (127 I11. 153). The Chicago Board of Trade was a corporation, and the powers of a court of equity over a corporation are much more extensive than over private individuals, but we cannot agree with that decision So far as it appears to justify an interference by the public or the courts with a voluntary association in the transaction of its business because the public desire information as to its transactions.*- There is no doubt much information as to the method .by which large corporations, associations or- firms transact their business'which would be quite valuable to their competitors and interesting to the public, but this would hardly be considered as.
The doctrine established in Munn v. Illinois (94 U. S. 113), And kindred cases, does not apply. No property of the stock ■exchange has been devoted to public use. The stock exchange ■excludes the public from its property; restricts the transactions
I cannot think, therefore, that the court had power to. grant the relief asked for, and the order appealed from should be affirmed,' with ten dollars costs and disbursements.
Yan Brunt, P. J., Patterson and McLaughlin, JJ., concurred.
Order affirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements.