Anderson v. Durr

10 Ohio App. 329, 29 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 465, 29 Ohio C.A. 465, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 282
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 3, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 10 Ohio App. 329 (Anderson v. Durr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Durr, 10 Ohio App. 329, 29 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 465, 29 Ohio C.A. 465, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 282 (Ohio Ct. App. 1919).

Opinions

Shohl, J.

This was an action in which plaintiff sought-to enjoin the auditor of Hamilton county from listing on the tax duplicate as taxable property plaintiff’s' membership in the New York Stock Exchange, and to restrain the treasurer from collecting taxes thereon.

The case is heard in this court on appeal, and there is a stipulation as to the facts, in addition to the admissions in the pleadings.

The plaintiff is, and has been for a number of years, a member of the New York Stock Exchange, an unincorporated association of eleven hundred members. It owns the entire capital stock of The New York Stock Exchange Building Company, a corporation which holds title to real estate in New York City, and certain other stocks and securities. It furnishes exchange rooms and other facilities in New York City for the convenient transaction of brokerage business by , members. The right conferred by the membership is to trade in accordance with the regulations which now authorize trading at the Exchange in New Yotk City, and not elsewhere, in certain securities listed on said Exchange, according to certain conditions, and at certain hours. Persons are admitted to membership only upon the vote of two-thirds of the fifteen members comprising- the' committee on admissions! They pay annual dues, and there is a life insurance feature for the 'benefit of their families. A transfer of membership may be made [331]*331upon the submission of the name of the candidate •to the committee on admissions and the approval of the transfer by two-thirds of the committee. There are no stock certificates, but persons elected are notified by letter signed by the secretary. The Exchange has regular meetings at which officers and committees are elected, and they manage the business of the association. The plaintiff paid over $60,000 for his seat. It has a market value, and, subject to the acceptability of the transferee to the committee on admissions, is transferable by sale. The market value ranged from $60,000 or thereabouts in 1911 to as low as $34,000 in 1914 and as high as $70,000 and over at the present time. Under the rules of the Exchange members charge their customers not less than one-eighth o'f one per cent, as commission for purchases and sales o'f securities. When such purchaser is another member, however, he may purchase for a commission of one-fourth the regular amount, and, in certain cases, for one-fiftieth of one per cent. In the case of removal or suspension of a member, or at his death, his seat is sold and the net proceeds of such sale, after satisfying the claims of such creditors as are members, are paid over to the member or his personal representatives.

Plaintiff contends that the membership is a privilege incident to real estate in New York, that it is an incorporeal hereditament, and therefore not taxable in Ohio; second, that even if it is property in Ohio, it is not within the terms of the statute specifying the property which should be listed for taxation; and, third, that if the property were taxed in Ohio it would violate constitutional rights.

[332]*332There is no question but what a seat on a stock exchange is property. It is conceded by counsel, and the authorities are clear. Rogers v. Hennepin County, 240 U. S., 184; Page v. Edmunds, 187 U. S., 596 (Philadelphia Stock Exchange); Sparhawk v. Yerkes, 142 U. S., 1 (New York Stock Exchange); Hyde v. Woods, 94 U. S., 523 (San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board); In re Currie, 185 Fed. Rep., 263; O’Dell v. Boyden, 150 Fed. Rep., 731; Bank v. Abbott, 181 Mass., 531; State v. McPhail, 124 Minn., 398; Powell v. Waldron, 89 N. Y., 328, and Platt v. Jones, 96 N. Y., 24.

It is not taxed in New York under the general laws (People, ex rel., v. Feitner, 167 N. Y., 1), though it is taxable under the New York inheritance tax law. Matter of Hellman, 174 N. Y., 254.

' In the Rogers case, 240 U. S., at page 189, the court cites with approval the language of the Minnesota case as follows:

“A membership has a use value and a buying and selling or market value. It is bought and sold. * * * There is a lien upon it for balances due members. * * * It passes by will or descent and by insolvency or bankruptcy. * * * It is true that there are certain restrictions in the ownership and use of a membership. These may increase or decrease its value, probably 'in the case of a board of trade membership greatly enhance it. They do not prevent its being property.”

The exact nature of the property arising from membership in a stock exchange has not been conclusively adjudicated by the supreme court. In support of the argument that it constituted real [333]*333estate in New York, reference was made by plaintiff to the case of Louisville & Jeffersonville Ferry Co. v. Kentucky, 188 U. S., 385, holding that the ferry franchise granted by the state of Indiana was an incorporeal hereditament, and therefore not taxable in Kentucky. On first impression there are points of similarity between a membership in a stock exchange and a ferry franchise. The rights to exercise the incidents of membership as to buying and selling stocks and securities .are with respect to a specific piece of real estate in New York City, at least the present rules of the Stock Exchange so indicate. A careful analysis of the Ferry Company case shows, however, that the decision rests primarily upon historical reasons. See pages 394, 395. The references to Kent’s Commentaries and Washburn on Real Property show this, and the court points out that a widow has been allowed dower in a ferry.

The law of incorporeal hereditament's is a relic of mediaeval law. 2 Pollock and Maitland’s History of English Law, pages 123-148, shows how the jurists of earlier days regarded certain rights with respect to land as “things.” 1 Tiffany on Real Property, pages 9-13, shows the modern law, and summarizes as follows:

“We find that the only things of this nature recognized m this 'country are rights as to the use or profits of another’s land, and franchises, or certain classes of franchises, and' -consequently these, together with land and things annexed thereto (-corporeal things real), are among the subjects of real property.”

[334]*334There is no authority and no justification for any extension of the law in respect to incorporeal hereditaments to adjudge a stock exchange membership to be realty. It does not descend to the heirs of the owner. The title to the land on which the 'business is done is held in fee simple in the realty corporation. The unclouded title could be conveyed away by it without the plaintiff’s consent. It is urged that the ownership of all the stock in the realty company is a mere form, and that plaintiff’s interest is substantially in real estate. This is no more true than a similar claim with respect to the right of a shareholder in any realty company. Such stock is personalty no matter what the corporation owns. Morawetz on Private Corporations, Section 225; Hawley v. Malden, 232 U. S., 1, 12, and Lee v. Sturges, 46 Ohio St., 153, 161.

The nature of a membership in an exchange was before the supreme court in the case of Rogers v. Hennepin County, 240 U. S., 184.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Ohio App. 329, 29 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 465, 29 Ohio C.A. 465, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-durr-ohioctapp-1919.