State v. Buck

108 Mo. 622
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 15, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 108 Mo. 622 (State v. Buck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Buck, 108 Mo. 622 (Mo. 1891).

Opinion

Macfarlane, J.

Defendants were indicted in DeKalb county under section 1350 as amended by the act of 1887, for receiving deposits as private bankers when the “Stewartsville Bank” of which they were owners and managers was insolvent or in failing circumstances. Seven indictments were found against 'them, numbered from one to seven inclusive. A severance was granted at the April term, 1888, and defendant filed an application for a change of venue in case number 6, from that county. No order was made on this application until May 22, 1889, when a change of venue was granted to Harrison county. By agreement of the parties the application filed in case number 6 was to apply in the other cases against defendant.

A transcript of the record and proceedings in case number 2 was filed in the Harrison county circuit court, December 4,1889. This transcript included the p oceedings which resulted in the change of venue in case number 6, and the record entry that the application in that case should apply to all other cases. The circuit clerk of DeKalb county certified that the transcript was a true copy of the original proceedings as the same appeared of record and on file in his office.

[625]*625The indictment copied in the transcript charged that “Harvey S. Buck and Thomas Gr. McCrosky, late of the county aforesaid, on the first day of December, 1887, at the county of DeKalb, and state aforesaid, being then and there, owners and managers of a private bank, known as the Stewartsville Bank, the same being a banking institution, doing business in said county, a certain deposit of money, to-wit, $150 lawful money of the United States, of the value of $150, the money and property of Thomas Allen, unlawfully and feloniously did assent to the taking, having and receiving on deposit, in said Stewartsville Bank, a private banking institution, after said Harvey S. Buck and Thomas McCrosky, owners and managers as aforesaid, had knowledge of the fact and well knew that said Stewartsville Bank was then and there in failing circumstances, and so the said Harvey S. Buck and Thomas Gr. McCrosky, aforesaid, the money aforesaid, to-wit, $150, of the value of $150, the money and property of said Thomas Allen, in manner aforesaid, unlawfully and feloniously, did steal, take and carry away, against the peace and dignity of the state.”

A motion was made to quash the proceedings on the ground that there was no properly certified copy of the record and proceedings of the DeKalb 'circuit court in the cause on file in the court. This motion was overruled, and defendants filed a motion to quash the indictment for the reasons, as assigned, that it charged no facts which constitute a crime under the laws of this state; the law does not apply to a private banker,'nor to a firm of individuals doing a banking business ; it was not charged that defendants as owners of the bank were previously insolvent or in failing circumstances ; it was not charged that defendants were private bankers as defined by statute. This motion was also overruled.

The case was tried, defendant found guilty and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary, and from the sentence he appealed to this court.

[626]*626I. The indictment is under section 1350, Bevised Statutes, 1879, as amended by the act of 1887, page 162. This act was itself amended in the revision of 1889, section 3581, after the commission of the offense with which defendant was charged. That section now stands as follows:

“If any president, director, manager, cashier or other officer of any banking institution, or the owner, agent or manager of any private bank or banking institution doing business in this state, shall receive or assent to the reception of any deposit of money or other valuable thing in such bank or banking institution, or if any such officer, owner or agent shall create or assent to the creation of any debts or indebtedness by any such bank or banking institution, in consideration or by reason of which indebtedness any money or valuable property shall be received into such bank or banking institution, after he shall have had knowledge of the fact that (such banking institution or the owner or owners of any such private bank) is insolvent or in failing circumstances, he shall be deemed guilty of larceny, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished in the same manner and to the same extent as is provided by law for stealing the same amount of money deposited, or valuable thing: provided, that the failure of any such bank or banking institution shall be prima facie evidence of knowledge on the part of any such officer or person that the same was insolvent or in failing circumstances when the money or property was received on deposit.”

The words italicized show what was added to section 1350, Bevised Statutes, 1879, by the act of 1887, and the words included in parentheses indicate the amendment made to the act of 1887 in the revision of 1889, which are substituted for the word “it” in the original.

The objection urged to the sufficiency of the, indictment is that it does not charge that the Stewartsville [627]*627Bank, of which defendant is charged with being an owner, was regularly and legally organized as a private bank under the laws of the state authorizing them. The charge is very distinctly made that defendants were' the owners and managers of a private bank known as the Stewartsville Bank, the same being a banking institution doing business in the county. This might be a sufficient charge that the bank was regularly organized, but as the evidence shows that it was not, though doing business as one, we will consider the question whether the conviction was proper under the indictment and evidence.

Under the law as it stood prior to the amendment of 1887, the case of State v. Kelsey, 89 Mo. 623, was decided at the October term, 1886. It was held in that case, Noktow, J., writing the opinion, that section 1350 only applied to incorporated banking institutions and not to private banks and bankers, though doing business under authority of law. The amendment of March 18, 1889, following so closely upon that decision was evidently suggested by it, and was intended to remedy a defect shown to exist in the law as it was when the decision was rendered. Private banks and bankers are clearly brought within the terms of the amended act.

It is now insisted that private bankers who have fully complied with the law in the organization of their banking institutions are alone subject to prosecution under this section, and those who are carrying on an unauthorized banking business are wholly exempt.

The argument for this position is drawn in part from the decision in the Kelsey case, supra, and in part from the amendment made to the law in the revision of 1889. It is contended, that, as the law of 1879 only applied to regularly incorporated banks, the amendment of 1887 was only intended to extend its application to regularly organized private banks ; that when private banks were designated only those recognized by law were meant. This view, it is insisted, is strengthened [628]*628by the amendment of 1889, making it unlawful for owners of private banks to receive deposits when either the bank or the owner is in failing circumstances.

Private bankers are defined by section 921 to be those' who “carry on the business of banking by receiving money on deposit,” etc.

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Related

State v. McClure
31 S.W.2d 39 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1930)
State v. Sanford
297 S.W. 73 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1927)
State v. Meininger
290 S.W. 999 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1926)
State v. Decker
116 S.W. 1096 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1909)
State v. Reid
28 S.W. 172 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1894)
State v. Buck
25 S.W. 573 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1894)

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Bluebook (online)
108 Mo. 622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-buck-mo-1891.