The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-08
Decisions of Various
Tribunals on Inter
esting Subjects.
TRUSTS IN COURTS.
State Legislatures Seek to
Curb Their
Power.

Inc Olueu states Circuit court VI
appeals in Boston has established an
important principle of law in the case
of the National Cash Register Com
pany against officers and directors of
the defunct Boston Cash Register Com
pany. The plaintiff brought a suit for
infringement Of its patents and ulti-
mately secured a perpetual injunction
from the United States supreme court
But this was barren victory, because
by the time it was obtained the Boston
company had yielded up its corporate
life Action was begun against the late
directors and officers. and damages
were fixed at $200. 600 The defense was
that no individual responsibility at
tached to members of the deceased cor
poration. The court Of original juris-
diction held for the defendants, but
was overruled by the higher tribunal.
The opinion of the court of appeals
is that a director of a corporation
whoy as director, by vote or otherwise,
specifically commands the subordinate
agents of corporation to engage in
the manufacture and sale Of an in
fringing machine is liable individually
in an action at law for damages
brought by the owner Of the patent in
fringed," and that "a defendant who
directed that infringing machines
should be manufactured and put upon
the market and that their sales should
be pushed, was not relieved from IL
ability by reason of the fact that he
was acting as director of a corpora
ton or in its behalf" A new trial has
been ordered.
The law seldom has to deal with
more grim and CHASTITY set of circum-
stances than those recently presented
TO the district court of Massachusetts
in salvage case arising out of the
discovery Of the body of man float
ing in the sea in the vicinity of the
place where the French steamer La
Bourgogne was lost. The finders were
the master and crew of the fishing
schooner w. H. Cross Upon the
corpse was a wallet containing SO gold
coins and bank notes to the value of
Sl050- There were no means of iden-
tifying the body, which was sunk in
the ocean after removing the money. A
claim was made for salvage, and Judge
Francis c. Lowell has awarded one
half of the entire amount to the sal
vors, giving one-third to the captain
and one-third to be divided among the
members of the crew. The court made
the masters share larger than is usual
in salvage cases, because it was proved
that some Of the sailors wanted to di-
vide all the money on the spot and the
captain had some trouble in compelling
them to abandon the scheme. The re-
port of the decision does not state what
is to become Of the moety of the prop
erty not adjudged TO go to the sal
vors.
The Missouri house on Wednesday
passed and sent to the governor for
his signature two bills intended to give
the attorney general almost unlimited
power in the prosecution of trusts One
permits that official to require officers
Of corporations whom he may believed
to have formed a trust, and against
which companies he may desire to pro-
ceed,, to appear to give testimony in
regard to the matter The penalty for
failure to appear is Imprisonment for
contempt. The bill is intended to make
the officers furnish testimony to con-
vict themselves in advance OF. proceed
ings against them. The other bill en-
ables the supreme court to fix a place
in the state where the officers of the
corporations against whom the attor-
ney general is proceeding for violation
of the antitrust law can appear and
testify. This bill is intended to pre-
vent the necessity for the attorney
general to go all over the United States
TO take testimony, as was done in the
recent suit against insurance compa-
mics.
In the Cleveland, Ohio. common pleas
court the Hess Spring and Axle C1m-
pany of Cincinnati has secured a tenn
porary injunction against the Vehicle
Manufacturers Association, otherwise
known as the axle trust.
On account Of some difficulty with the
trust the Hess Company withdrew from
it. Then 1t was notified, the plaintiff al
leges, that 1t had been fined $500 for
selling goods below the established rate
and for selling more than it was emit
tied to sell. It is declared that the as
sociation Is a trust and exists in viola
ton Of the antitrust laws of Ohio, and
therefore its contract with the trust is
illegal. The plaintiff asks the court TO
compel the trust to give UP cash and
notes amounting to 5000, which It de-
posted with the combine when it
Joined the organization.
The supreme court Of the United
States has declared unconstitutional the
Michigan 1000-mile ticket law. The
statute in question requires railroad
companies in that state to sell to any
one desiring to purchase the same a
i000-mile ticket, good for two years. for
$50. This legislation IS declared to be
violation Of those parts OF the consti-
tuition which forbid the taking Of prop
erty without due process Of law and
prohibit q state from denying to any
one without its Jurisdiction the equal
protection Of the laws.
The two laws 20 restrict the license or
California newspapers. which became