Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co. v. Gittings

36 Md. 276, 1872 Md. LEXIS 81
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 19, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 36 Md. 276 (Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co. v. Gittings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co. v. Gittings, 36 Md. 276, 1872 Md. LEXIS 81 (Md. 1872).

Opinion

Robinson, J.,

delivered the opinion, of the Court.

On the 22d of January, 1840, the Chesapeake, and Ohio Canal Company, the appellant in this case, with a view to provide a fund for the redemption of certain canal scrip previously issued by it, executed in pursuance of an order of its board of president and directors a'deed of trust to James Swan, John S. Gittings and William Gunton, of certain five per cent, sterling bonds of the State of Maryland, which had been authorized to be given to the company, by the Act of' 1838, ch. 386.

In consequence of some objections to the details of this deed, the trustees declined to accept the’ trust, and accordingly on the 15th day of April, 1840, a new deed of trust, conveying the same bonds to the same trustees, upon somewhat different conditions suggested by them, was prepared and executed by the company, and accepted by the trustees.

The deed provided, among other things, that the bonds should be sold by the trustees and the proceeds applied within six months from the date thereof, to the payment, in the mode therein pointed out, of the canal scrip described in a schedule appended to the deed. It also contained a provision that the trustees should, at the end of six months from its date, pay over to the appellant, all money they might then [295]*295have on hand, and deliver all bonds then unsold, whether all the scrip was redeemed or not. Under this deed five per cent, sterling bonds of the State of Maryland, amounting to £90,625, were delivered to the trustees.

On the day of the execution of the second deed, to wit: on the 15th of April, 1840, the appellant being indebted to the Alexandria Canal Company in the sum of §17,379.20, executed and delivered to it its bond payable six months after date; and by an order passed on the same day, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, pledged and set apart any surplus of money or State bonds in the hands of the trustees, under the deed of January 22d, 1840, after their trust was closed, as a security for the payment of said bond to the Alexandria Canal Company.

On the 24th of June, 1841, the president and directors of the Bank of Potomac being the assignees of said bond, filed a bill in the High Court of Chanceiy, against the trustees, Swan, Gittings and Gunton, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and the Alexandria Canal Company, for the purpose of enforcing the payment of the same. In this bill they alleged the execution of the deeds of trust of the 22d of January and the 15th of April, the acceptance of the latter by the trustees, the delivery to and the sale by them of the sterling bonds, and it further charged that there remained in the hands of the trustees under said deed, a large surplus after satisfying all the legitimate objects of the trust, which was equitably pledged by the order of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, passed on the 15th of April, for the payment of said bond.

The trustees were required to answer under oath all matters touching the administration of the trust — the sale of the bonds — the disbursements of the proceeds, together with the vouchers thereof, and the bill prayed a decree for the payment by the trustees and other defendants, of the bond assigned to the complainants by the Alexandria Canal Company.

[296]*296By an amended bill the Chesapeake Bank, designated in the deed of trust as the place for the redemption of the canal scrip, was also made a party defendant.

John S. Gittings in .his answer admits the execution of the deeds of January 22d and April 15th, the acceptance by the trustees of the latter deed, the delivery to the trustees of the bonds, the sales thereof to the amount of $344,117.26, together with the sum of $16,958.62 interest on coupons received from the commissioners of loans, thus making $361,075.88, and claims credit for disbursements on account' of the same, the sum of $353,777.89, leaving a surplus due the trust fund of $7,297.99.

Eor further answer he says, that finding it impracticable to sell bonds enough for the redemption of the scrip and notes of the canal company, as presented to the trustees at the Chesapeake Bank, the said bank, at his instance, and with the knowledge of the canal company and his co-trustees, undertook to furnish the necessary funds, on a pledge of the bonds conveyed by the deed of April 15th, and that in pursuance of this agreement the bonds then in the hands of the trustees were delivered to the bank. That the subsequent sales of the bonds were made with the consent of the- bank, the latter, however, always receiving the proceeds of such sales, in lieu of the bonds; that at different times in the year 1840, and prior to notice of- the assignment of the bond of $17,379.20, which the complainants seek to enforce, the Chesapeake Bank purchased- of the holders thereof sundry acceptances of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal .Company, to the amount of $26,402.00, the said acceptances being for work done by contractors on the canal; that at the time of the purchase of said acceptances, the bonds assigned in trust were in the possession of the bank; that they were discounted upon the faith and in the reliance that the surplus to come into the hands of the trustees from the sales of the bonds would be chargeable therewith; that the bank had also loaned the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company $5,000 upon the pledge by the [297]*297latter, that the same should be paid out of said surplus, and that upon these and other grounds the Chesapeake Bank claims to retain out of said surplus funds the loan of $5,000, and also the amount of the acceptances purchased as aforesaid.

The respondent denies the power of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company to contract the debt for which the bond of $17,379.20 was executed, and denies that the same is a lien upon the surplus in the hands of the trustees. The exhibits, filed as part of the answer show that the sales of the bonds realized $344,117.26, which, together with $16,958.62 received as interest on coupons, makes the sum of $361,075.88 due the trust fund, and the disbursements on account of same, for canal scrip redeemed $305,225.88, cash loaned $4,375.63, acceptances $27,976.53, making $353,777.89, leaving a surplus duo the trust fund of $7,297.99.

The answer of the Chesapeake Bank is substantially the same as that of Mr. Gittings.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company admits the execution of its bond of $17,379.20 to the Alexandria Canal Company — the order of the 15th of April passed by its president and board of directors, pledging the surplus in the hands of the trustees, under the deed of January 22d, as a security for the payment of said bond, but denies that the same is a lien upon the surplus arising under the deed of April 15th; admits the delivery to and sale by the trustees of the sterling bonds, and charges that there is a large surplus in the hands of the trustees, after satisfying the legitimate objects of the trust, to which said surplus it claims to be entitled.

Proof was taken, and at the March Term, 1851, the case W'as argued and submitted to Judge Brewer, sitting as Chancellor, who decided:

1. That the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company had the power to contract the debt, for which its bond of $17,379.20 had been executed to the Alexandria Canal Company.
2. That the object of the order of April 15th was to create a lien upon the surplus in the hands of the trustees for the [298]

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Bluebook (online)
36 Md. 276, 1872 Md. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chesapeake-ohio-canal-co-v-gittings-md-1872.