Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1839-03-29
VERMONT PHOENIX.
rridar Morning, Mareh 20, 1880.

has ever been adjudicated by that tribunal,
since its organization.
The facts Of the case are briefly these. In
January, 1897, the Bank of the United States,
acting under its charter from Pennsylvania,
through lis agent, Mr.. Poe, purchased in Mo-
bile, Alabama, bill of exchange, drawn and
endorsed by VIM. ID. Primrose, who sold il
and received payment therefor. The bill was
not paid at maturity and on being returned,
paymen, was refused, by Primrose, the drawer
and endorser. The Bank consequently sued
him in the Circuit CouI, Of the United States
for the district Of Alabama, Justice Mckin-
ley, presiding. He decided that the Bank could
not maintain the action, FIRST because il was a
corporation created by the state Of Pennsyl Iva
MIA, and therefore could have no power to act
out Of the limits Of the state which incorporated
il; and secondly, that the state of Alabama
had established Stale Bank, for the purpose
of buying and selling exchange, whose profits
would be lessened by admitting the institutions
of other states, 10 vie with her own in trans
acting it. The case came up to the Supreme
Court on an appeal from this decision.
The cause was argued with great earnest
ness and ability by Mr.. Ingersoll and others,
on the part of Primrose, and Mr.. Webster and
others for the Bank. The argument ofM Web
sler in the case is said to have been one of great
power, and pre-eminent ability, and TO have
given additional lustre to his already distin-
guished legal fame.
| The decision of the court, who deferred Civ
7 IN th.,l I'D "a
maturelY, sustains the position assumed by
MIR. Webster in behalf of the bank, reverses
the decision of the court below, and awards its
full demand with costs, TO the appellant.
! Mr.. Webster commended in his argument:
| /. That Bank chartered in one State may
legally do in another State any act or acts
which the individuals composing that corpora
ton might do. The right of individual cti-
zens Of other states 10 purchase aud sell ex-
change in Alabama, is not denied.
2. That, by the Federal Constitution, i; is
prescribed-that 'the citizens of each state
shall be entitled to all the privileges and i'm
munilies Of the several states" Hence cit-
zens of Pennsylvania may lawfully do in Ala
bama any act which might be done by citizens
Of Alabama, under similar circumstances.
g. The rights of citizens of any state TO sue
citizens of any other stale in the Courts OF the
United States, is expressly stipulated in the
Constitution, and is most undoubted. BY the
decisions of this court, this right is settled TO
belong to corporations, equally with persons. 1
a. That il all reason and common sense
there can be no sort Of difference between the
purchase ola bill ofexchange, by one as agent,
of citizens of Pennsy lvania, aud like purchase
as agent Of the United States Bank Of Penn
sylvania--the latter being so far as this trans
action is concerned, merely a particular form
in which certain citizens are authorised 10
conduct their business. Therefore no act of
incorporation can take from citizens any right
which they possessed anterior 10 its passage
Thus on constitutional ground alone, MIR.
Webster held that the Bank were clearly en-
titled to recover, and could maintain this ac.
ton. But,
b. They were entitled to recover by virtue
of the comfy Of nations. A citizen of one
nation has right 10 sue for aud collect his
debt, under the laws Of any other nation, and
the denial Of this right would afford a iusl
ground of complaint, and if no redress were
given, Of war. A vessel insured in London is
cast away on The coast of the United States
and abandoned TO the insurers. They send an
agent to take care of their property. He is
obliged TO bring an action against those who
have II in possesson,-a denial of this right
by any nation, would, Mr.. w. held, be good
cause for war.
We cannot find room TO notice all the argu-
ments and illustrations made use of by Mr.
Webster on this occasion. They were worthy
of the man and the place
The opinion of the court is Of great length.
II was pronounced by Chief Justice Taney-
Justices Story, Thompson, Mclean, Barbour
and Catron, concurring, and is summed up in
the National Intelligencer, as follows:
/. That, by the comfy of nations, corpora
tons can contract, as we'll as sue, in other
nations as well as in that 10 which they exist,
or by whose Government they are created.
~ That this comfy exists in still strong
er degree between States connected together
as are The States of this Union.
80. That the constitution and Laws of
Alabama establish no such policv as is infring-
ed by the purchase and sale ofbills of exchange
within her limits by the agents of foreign cor
porations
"a. An admission that there are some rights
of citizens of other States, secured by the
Constitution, OF which State cannot divest
them. This was not the ground of the decis-
ION, but was intended, as we suppose, TO be, ia
legal phrase, the exclusion Of a conclusion.
Mr.. Justice Baldwin gave separate and
elaborate in rnf.