Miller v. Kaliwerke Aschersleben Aktien-Gesellschaft

283 F. 746, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2280
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMay 22, 1922
DocketNos. 284—287
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 283 F. 746 (Miller v. Kaliwerke Aschersleben Aktien-Gesellschaft) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Kaliwerke Aschersleben Aktien-Gesellschaft, 283 F. 746, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2280 (2d Cir. 1922).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). From what has been said it appears that these are libels, brought by the Alien Property Custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Act and its-amendments, to obtain the possession of certain rights, privileges and beneficial interests in a New York corporation and evidenced by certain certificates of stock and voting trust certificates alleged to belong to certain alien enemies. The court below having granted the relief sought by the Custodian, and required the corporation to issue new certificates withbut any surrender of the old, the proceedings have been brought into this court by appeal.

In the consideration of the questions presented it will be well to keep in mind that the decrees which have been entered in the court be[751]*751low in these proceedings simply give into- the possession of the Custodian the property which he had previously seized by making his demand in accordance with the terms of the Trading with the Enemy Act. The decrees do not settle any property rights finally. As declared in Central Trust Co. v. Garvan, 254 U. S. 554, 569, 41 Sup. Ct. 214, 216 (65 L. Ed. 403) they give “nothing but the preliminary custody, such as would have been gained by seizure.” They attach “the property, to make sure that it is forthcoming, if finally condemned, and do no more.”

The International Agricultural Corporation, which issued the stock certificates, we have seen, is a New York corporation, and as such is ordinarily subject to the laws of the state of New York. The Uniform Stock Transfer Eaw of that state declares that:

. “Except where a certificate is lost or destroyed, such corporation shall not be compelled to issue a new certificate for the stock until the old certificate is surrendered to it.” New York Personal Property Law (Consol. Laws, c. 41) § 174.

But under the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended, and which Congress has passed in the exercise of its war powers, the Alien Property Custodian is authorized to require new certificates to be issued to him under certain circumstances, and unless for some reason these acts of Congress are unconstitutional they override the law of the state of New York in so far as the two are in conflict.

In Miller v. United States, 11 Wall. 268, 20 L. Ed. 135, decided at the December term, 1870, the Supreme Court sustained the right of the government to confiscate stocks in a railroad corporation, which stock was alleged to belong to one Miller, a citizen of Virginia, who held various offices under the government of the Confederate States. The seizure was made under the Acts of Congress of August 6, 1861 (12 Stat. 319), and July 17, 1862 (12 Stat. 589). It was claimed in that case that the acts of Congress above referred to violated the Fifth and the Sixth Amendments to the Constitution. The court, in sustaining the constitutionality of the legislation, held that the statutes were not enacted under the'municipal power of Congress or of its sovereignty, but under the war powers, and as such were not affected by the restrictions imposed by the amendments, and they were held to be a legitimate exercise of the war power. And it was admitted by Mr. Justice Field in his dissenting opinion, concurred in by Mr. Justice Clifford, thatr

“The war powers of the government have no express limitation in the Constitution, and the only limitation to which their exercise is subject is the law of nations.”

The seizure of the stock consisted in a notice given by the United States marshal to the president of one of the companies and to the vice president of the other that he seized the stock. The certificates of stock were not seized and were presumed to be in the possession of the owner of the stock. See the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Davis, 11 Wall. 329, 20 L. Ed. 135.

The preliminary statement of facts which precedes the opinion in that case shows that the old certificates were outstanding, but the corporations were nevertheless directed to cancel the old certificates and to issue new certificates to the purchasers of the stock at a sale under a de[752]*752cree which had been entered condemning and forfeiting the property to the United States and ordering it to be sold. The Supreme Court held the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862 valid, and affirmed the decree of the court below.

In Stoehr v. Wallace, 255 U. S. 239, 242, 41 Sup. Ct. 293, 65 L. Ed. 604, the Trading with the Enemy Act, whether taken as originally enacted or as since amended, was upheld as valid, being “strictly a war measure,” and finding its sanction in the power given to Congress by the Constitution “to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.”

This court had the Trading with the Enemy Act before it recently in the Matter of Miller, 281 Fed. 764, decided at this term. In that case we decided that the demands made by the Custodian for the surrender to him of property which he had determined to be the property of an alien enemy effected an immediate seizure of the property demanded, and that the Custodian was entitled through the District Court to enforce the rights which he acquired by the seizure which he effected at the time of his demand. We held, too, that, when the District Court is asked to enforce the rights which the Custodian has acquired by such seizure, the District Court is without jurisdiction in that proceeding to determine any adverse claims in the property demanded, and that such claims must be determined thereafter in a separate suit to be brought under the provisions of section 9 of the act. We said that:

“Any and all questions concerning any interest claimed by third persons in the property seized or demanded by the Custodian are to be raised and determined as provided by section 9 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, and not in the proceeding now before the court.”

This statement was intended to be as comprehensive and all-inclusive as we could make it, and would seem to dispose of the question now raised as to the rights of certain claimants which the court below declined to pass upon. The Act of November 4, 1918, 40 Stat. c. 201, p. 1021, which amended subsection (c) of section 7 of the Trading with the Enemy Act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 3115½d), provided that:

“The sole relief and remedy of any person having any claim to any money or other property heretofore or hereafter conveyed, transferred, assigned, delivered, or paid over to the Alien Property Custodian, or required so to be, or seized by him shall be that provided by the terms of this act. * * * ”

In two of the proceedings now before the court, being No. 326 and No.

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Bluebook (online)
283 F. 746, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-kaliwerke-aschersleben-aktien-gesellschaft-ca2-1922.