White v. Davis

67 S.E. 716, 134 Ga. 274, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 170
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 19, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 67 S.E. 716 (White v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Davis, 67 S.E. 716, 134 Ga. 274, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 170 (Ga. 1910).

Opinion

Lumpkin, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.)

The judge of the superior court denied the petition of the receiver appointed by the court of bankruptcy that the receiver appointed by the State court be directed to deliver the assets in his hands to the petitioner. Was this error? This was not an equitable proceeding, with parties plaintiff and defendant, and with a prayer for the appointment of a receiver. It did not rest on the general powers of a court of equity as such, or of a court having equitable jurisdiction. The presiding judge based his action on the theory-that the company could surrender its charter to the superior court, and that the court could accept such surrender, and as an incident thereto, or a result thereof, could appoint -a receiver on its ex parte petition. In an opinion filed by him in deciding the question now before us for review, he said, among other things: "Whether the conclusion was judicially right or wrong, or however it may weaken or strengthen the jurisdiction of this court, the fact remains that the controlling idea with which the court assumed jurisdiction was based upon the resolution looking to a surrender of the charter. If a charter may not be surrendered to this court, then I have no hesitation in saying that in my judgment my jurisdiction is not as assured as I considered it when this court took charge of the estate. ' . . But the jurisdiction at last seems to rest upon the act of surrender.”

In England corporations were created either by virtue of the royal prerogatives or by act of parliament. If they were created by the crown, it was done by letters patent under its seal and duly enrolled. If by parliament, it was accomplished by an act enrolled and with the great seal attached. When grants by the crown were dissolved upon surrender by the grantees, the acceptance of the king of such surrender was required to be enrolled. Butler v. Palmer, 1 Salk. *191. A parliamentary grant could only be dissolved by act of parliament. In America there has been some diversity of views as to the necessity for an acceptance of a surrender of franchises, especially by a strictly private corporation. On the general subject see 2 Kent’s Com. 209; Boston Glass Mfg. Co. v. Langdon, 24 Pick. (Mass.) 49 (35 Am. D. 292) ; Revere v. Boston Copper C.o., 15 Pick. (Mass.) 351 ; Portland Dry Dock & Insurance Co. v. Trustees of Portland, 51 Ky. (12 B. Monroe) 77 ; Curien v. Santini, 16 La. Ann. 27 ; Polar Star Lodge No. 1. v. Polar Star [278]*278Lodge No. 1, Id. 53 ; Harris v. Muskingum Mfg. Co., 4 Blackf. (Ind.) 267 (29 Am. D. 3.72) ; Merchants & Planters Line v. Waganer, 71 Ala. 581, 587 ; 10 Cyc. 1299(E), 1300 (B). In Mechanics’ Bank v. Heard, 37 Ga. 401, a bank which had been incorporated by the legislature sought to. surrender its charter to the State by resolution of its directors, and forwarding notice of the surrender to the .Governor, which was received by him. It was held that “A corporation made by the General Assembly of this State can not terminate its existence by a voluntary surrender of its charter; the surrender must be accepted by the General Assembly.” Walker, J. dissented. In the opinion Harris, J.,' entered into a full discussion of the subject. In Young v. Moses, 53 Ga. 628, 629, the decision in the Mechanics’ Bank case was cited, and it was said by Trippe, J., that “a corporation does not cease to exist by the adoption of resolutions by the stockholders that it will do no more business. A dissolution requires more than a mere declaration.” The Mechanics’ Bank ease was again cited approvingly in Milliken v. Steiner, 56 Ga. 251, 257. In Central Railroad & Banking Co. v. State, 54 Ga. 401, in the course of the discussion, Warner, C. J., referred to the case already mentioned, and said that this court had never decided that when the State withdraws any of the franchises granted to a corporation, since the adoption of the code, such corporation could not voluntarily surrender its franchises to the State. In the concurring opinion McCay, J., said: “This court has not held that a corporation created since the code may not surrender its franchises without the consent of the State. Indeed, such a right would seem to follow from the reservation of the right to repeal.” The State was seeking to impose taxes upon a consolidated corporation, and the real question was as to whether it could do so, or whether certain provisions of the original charters prevented it. So that this was not a ruling that a railroad company could simply surrender its charter and terminate its existence at will. If a charter is in the nature of a contract between the State and the corporation, as held in the Dartmouth College case, 4 Wheat. 517 (4 L. ed. 629), a reservation by the State in the charter itself, or in a pre-existing general law, of the right to modify or repeal the franchise, does not seem necessarily to imply that the other party has the same right, or a corresponding right of surrender and destruction of its legal entity, at least until the State [279]*279has exercised such reserved power. After the decision of the Dartmouth College case, a number of the States, by statute or constitutional provision, reserved the right to revoke franchises, so that grants thereafter made should be subject to such provision. This was the ease in Georgia. Civil Code, §§5730, 5731, 1880.

But it is unnecessary in the present case for us to decide whether a purely private corporation has a right to surrender its charter and dissolve itself without acceptance on the part of the State. Whether it has or not, the judgment under review was erroneous. First let us deal with it on the theory that acceptance was necessary, and consider whether the superior court, in the exercise of its equitable jurisdiction, had authority to accept a surrender, and, on the basis thereof and of the petition presented, to pass the order now before us.

In many of the States the legislature has provided a method by which a voluntar}r dissolution of a corporation may be had, or by which it may be dissolved or its assets administered under certain circumstances. Where there is such legislation, no difficulty arises as to the power of the court. In this State no provision has been made by legislative enactment for a voluntary winding up of a corporation on its own petition to a court of equity. When the original code was adopted, it contained a codification of the preexisting law on the subject of the dissolution of corporations, which lias been retained in later codes. It was declared that “Every corporation is dissolved — 1. By expiration of its charter. 2. By forfeiture of its charter. 3. By a surrender of its franchises. 4. By the death of all its members without provisions for a succession.” Civil Code of 1895, §1882. Dissolution by forfeiture dates from the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, declaring the forfeiture. §1883. On the subject of surrender it was stated: “A corporation may be dissolved by a voluntary surrender of its franchises to the State. In such case such surrender does not relieve its officers or members from any liability for the debts of the corporation.” .§1884. The question then arises, if a corporation desires to surrender its franchises, “to the State,” who has authority on behalf of the State to accept the surrender (if necessary), and thus complete the dissolution? Originally charters were granted by the General Assembly. By the act of 1843, Cobb’s Digest, p.

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Bluebook (online)
67 S.E. 716, 134 Ga. 274, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-davis-ga-1910.