Peoples Warehouse Co. v. Commercial Bank & Trust Co.

38 S.E.2d 855, 74 Ga. App. 67, 1946 Ga. App. LEXIS 459
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 5, 1946
Docket31116.
StatusPublished

This text of 38 S.E.2d 855 (Peoples Warehouse Co. v. Commercial Bank & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peoples Warehouse Co. v. Commercial Bank & Trust Co., 38 S.E.2d 855, 74 Ga. App. 67, 1946 Ga. App. LEXIS 459 (Ga. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinion

*69 MacIntyre, J.

A negotiable warehouse receipt under the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act is defined as “A receipt in -which it is stated that the goods received will be delivered to the bearer or to the order of any person named in such receipt is a negotiable receipt.” One of the receipts here in question is as follows:

“PEOPLES BONDED WAREHOUSE
Griffin, Georgia.
License PEOPLES WAREHOUSE COMPANY Receipt and
Number Proprietor Tag
2-127 No. 26584
Licensed and Bonded under the United States Warehouse Act
Original . . Negotiable
Warehouse Receipt
For One Bale of Cotton

Received from A. H. Huc¿aby of . . For storage in course of interstate or foreign commerce, the One Bale of Cotton described herein, stored in the above-named warehouse, for which this receipt is issued subject to the United States Warehouse Act, the regulations for cotton warehouses thereunder, and the.terms of this contract, said cotton is fully insured by the undersigned warehouseman against loss or damages by fire or lightning, said cotton is accepted for storage for one year only from the date of this receipt, but upon surrender by the holder this receipt may be extended or a new receipt issued as provided in said regulations, the undersigned warehouseman is not the owner of the cotton covered by this receipt, either solely, jointly, or in common with others, unless otherwise stated herein, upon the return of this receipt properly endorsed and the payment of all charges and liabilities due the undersigned warehouseman, as stated herein, said One Bale of Cotton will be delivered to the above-named depositor or his order.

Issued at Griffin, Georgia, on 10-28-40.

Weight determined by a weigher PEOPLES WAREHOUSE licensed under the U. S. Ware- COMPANY

house Act. Licensed Warehouseman

By: J. W. Hayes

The undersigned warehouseman claims a lien on said cotton for charges and liabilities as follows: Receiving, weighing, storage, *70 and insurance for first month or fractional part . . ; Storage and insurance each additional month or fractional part . . ; Reweighing . . ; Delivering . . ; Mise. . .

Marks . . Grade St. L.
No. Lyons Staple 1”
Weight 448 Condition . .

The issuance of a fraudulent receipt, or illegal conversion or removal of the cotton represented by this receipt, is punishable by a <$10,000.00 fine, or imprisonment for ten years, or both.

[Endorsements on back]

A. H. Huckaby.”

The other receipts are in the same form except for the depositor of the cotton in whose name the receipt was issued, and for the description of the cotton. The United States Warehouse Act (U. S. C. A., Title 7, Ch. 10, § 262), provides: “A warehouseman conducting a warehouse licensed under this chapter, in the absence of some lawful excuse, shall, without unnecessary delay, deliver the agricultural products stored therein upon á demand made either by the holder of a receipt for such agricultural products or by the depositor thereof, if such demand be accompanied with (a) an offer to satisfy the warehouseman’s lien; (b) an offer to surrender the receipt, if negotiable, with such indorsements as would be necessary for the negotiation of the receipt; and (c) a readiness and willingness to sign, when the products are delivered, an acknowledgment that they have been delivered if such signature is requested by the warehouseman.” Section 263 provides: “A warehouseman conducting a warehouse licensed under this chapter shall plainly cancel upon the face thereof each receipt returned to him upon the delivery by him of the agricultural products for which the receipt was issued.” Regulations for Cotton Warehouses, reissued as amended August 1938, Reg. 4, § 1, paragraph 1, provides: “Every receipt, whether negotiable or non-negotiable, issued for cotton stored in a licensed warehouse shall, in addition to complying with requirements of section 18 of the act, embody within its written or printed terms the following: . . (g) the words Not negotiable,’ or Negotiable,’ according to the nature of the receipt, clearly and conspicuously printed or stamped thereon.” Section 1, paragraph 2 of the same regulation is as follows: “Every receipt, whether negotiable or non-negotiable, issued for cotton stored in a *71 licensed warehouse shall specify a period, not exceeding 1 year, for which the cotton is accepted for storage under the act and these regulations, but, upon demand and the surrender of the old receipt by the lawful holder thereof at or before the expiration of the specified period, the warehouseman, so far as the available capacity of his warehouse then permits and upon such lawful terms and conditions as may be granted by him at such time to other depositors of cotton in the warehouse shall, if he then continue to act as a licensed warehouseman, either extend the old receipt by making an appropriate notation thereon or issue a new receipt for a further specified period not exceeding 1 year. Further extension of the storage period may be made annually by appropriate endorsement or by issuing a new receipt, provided it is first determined by the warehouseman that the cotton has not deteriorated and if it has that proper notation of the changed condition be made on the receipt, and provided the warehouseman’s license is still in effect.” It might be noted that paragraph 2 of such regulation states: “Every receipt, whether negotiable or non-negotiable, issued for cotton stored in a licensed warehouse shall specify a period, not exceeding 1 year, for which the cotton is accepted for storage under the act and these regulations.” Thus, we think that the insertion of this 1-year clause in the warehouse receipt does not necessarily make the receipt non-negotiable. It should be further noted that paragraph 1 of such regulations states that every receipt, whether negotiable or non-negotiable, shall have conspicuously printed or stamped thereon, according to the nature of the receipt, the words “Negotiable,” or “Not negotiable,” and that this receipt had printed thereon “Negotiable.” What is the meaning of these requirements in such regulations, that there shall be conspicuously printed or stamped thereon the words “Negotiable,” or “Not negotiable?” We think that the regulation meant, if the receipt was so stamped “Negotiable,” that it was in legal effect negotiable as respects the warehouseman if the holder of the receipt purchased it for value supposing it to be negotiable, even though as respecting any party to the transaction other than the warehouseman, it might not be negotiable. Lynn Storage Warehouse Co. v. Senator, 3 Fed. 2d, 558. Under the Georgia law, as well as under the Uniform Warehouse Eeceipts Act, even if the warehouseman fails to stamp a licensed public warehouse receipt “Negotiable,” or “Not negoti *72

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Bluebook (online)
38 S.E.2d 855, 74 Ga. App. 67, 1946 Ga. App. LEXIS 459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-warehouse-co-v-commercial-bank-trust-co-gactapp-1946.