The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-05
JUDGE WILLIS ACTION.
He Refuses to Appoint II Corporation
- Receiver-A Very Important In

~
a Receiver-A Very Important In
nOvatiOn.
ST. PAUL, Aug 21.-NIr. Editor: There
appeared in one of the daily papers of this
city under date of July II an article reflect
ing somewhat on the action of the Hon
John w. Willis in disregarding the sug-
gestions of the attorneys in appointing
receiver for the insolvent firm of Mast,
Buford & Burwell. The source of the art-
Gle is as unworthy of notice, the sub
stance of it is of mention, but as the prn-
ciple involved was one of Importance, and
the object of the article was to create the
impression that the judges action did not
meet with the approval of the ST. Paul
bar / beg leave, a member of the st.
Paul Bar Association to correct that i'm
preston through the columns of your
paper
The history of the transaction may be
briefly stated as follows: Many months
ago the firm above mentioned made an as
signment for the benefit of creditors to Mr..
Victor Robertson with outstanding oblga-
tions of over s10Oo,0OO. The creditors aft
erwards becoming dissatisfied with the
management of the property the part of
said assignee filed petition for the
moval of said assignee and the appoint
ment Of a receiver of the insOlvent firm
in his stead. This petition was brought
for hearing before the district court of
Ramsey county, where most of the credi-
tors were represented before the court by
attorneys who agreed with rare unanimity
to the appointment of the st. Paul Title
Insurance and Trust Company as receiver.
The court, after hearing the arguments,
disregarded the suggestion of counsel and
appointed two private gentlemen of unim-
peachable integrity to discharge the duties
of the trust for the benefit of the creditors,
at the same time accompanying his action
with the suggestion that his refusal to
comply with the request of counsel was not
directed against the corporation named
but against a corporation.
This action of the court not only
fearless, just and true to the interest of
the creditors, but it was a complete and
perfect compliance with the spirit and in
tent of the law, and in addition to that it
was the crystalization of a sentiment that
in many states has been growing for years,
and in this has ripened into a permanent
conviction, that corporations, or so-called
trust companies, are by the very nature
and character of their creation and exist
ence disqualified and untitled to discharge
the duties growing out of fiduciary or trust
relations. 1t is true that the incompetence
Indifference of our legislatures has per-
mitted such organiza tions to exercise the
duties of trust for which they
fitted and it should be subject for con-
graduation among the people of this state
that we have one jurist who possesses suf-
path of courtesy, if such becomes neces-
sary, in giving effect to the broad spirit
and charitable intent of our law. The
spirit (and il / may use the eXpression) the
great human heart of the law is not salts
fled by the appointment of a trustee whose
only qualification is financial responsibility
but confidence rests upon higher and
nobler attribute, the possession in the
breast of the trustee of an honorable man.
hood and a Christian integrity which urges
i'm, IN q In roo lf
his duties irrespective of his legal Obliga-
tions: and those attributes a corporation
never has. So jealousy was the rights of
the beneficiary in such cases guarded by
the ancient and indeed, by the great body
of modern law, on the continent at least,
that the trustee was expressly prohibited
from making gain out of the trust funds.
This is the fundamental principle upon
which the law applicable to tiduciary rela-
lions rests, while the modern trust COM
pany is organized for the express purpose
of ps wing dividends to its stockholders out
of the profits derived from trust funds.
There was some stress laid on the fact
that it was unusual for the court to dis
regard the united request of counsel in the
So but in answer to this it is sufficient
to say the duties of court and the prac-
tice of counsel diverge widely in their
scope While the duty of the court calls
upon it to administer justice fairly and inn
partially for the honor of it's country and
the good of humanity in general, the prac
tce of counsel calls upon him to sus-
tain the demands of his client for pay, and
the administration of justice would indeed
be at q low ebb if the law Of custom or
precedent required court to sacrifice its
convictions and violate it's conscience that
it might extend courtesy to a counseFs
request The action of the court was
important one, it was step in the right
direction. 1t was not taken too soon for
the public good. and 1t applied the spirit
of the law without infringing upon the
latter.
In fine, without assuming to act as the
defender panegyrist of one who stands
in need of neither, l venture to say that
the ST. Paul bar, without exception,
give their unqualified support to the courts
action and recognize in Judge Willis a
man whose superior abilities and unswerv