Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/82325/planters-bank-vs-union
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 04:45:41+00:00

Document:
1. A military commander commanding the department in which the City of New Orleans was situate had not the right, on the 17th of August, 1863, after the occupation of the city by General Butler and after his proclamation of May 1, 1862, announcing that "all the rights of property of whatever kind will be held inviolate, subject only to the laws of the United States," to seize private property as booty of war, or, in face of the Acts of Congress of 6th of August, 1861, and July 17th, 1862, make any order as commander confiscating it.
2. Where, after judgment for a certain sum, a remittitur is entered as to part, the remittitur does not bind the party making it if the judgment be vacated and set aside.
3. Where after judgment for a certain sum, execution is allowed, during a motion for a new trial, to issue for a part of the sum, which part is admitted to be due, this, though anomalous, is not a ground for reversal where no objection appears to have been made and where it may fairly be presumed that the defendant assented to what was done, and where, a new trial being afterwards granted, it was limited to a trial as to the excess of the claim above the amount for which the execution was issued.
4. A promise to pay in "Confederate notes" in consideration of the receipt of such notes and of drafts payable by them is neither a nudum pactum nor an illegal contract.
will not unravel the transaction to discover its origin. The doctrine applied to the case of money received for the sale of "Confederate bonds."
6. Although, where money has been deposited with a bank, or drafts &c.;, to be collected in money, and there has been no contract or understanding that a different rule should prevail, the bank where the deposit is made ordinarily becomes the owner of the money and consequently a debtor for the amount collected, and under obligation to pay on demand not the identical money received, but a sum equal in legal value, yet this does not apply where the thing deposited was not money, but a commodity, such as "Confederate notes," and it was agreed that the collections should be made in like notes. The fact that the collecting bank used the notes in their business does not alter the case. The case distinguished from Marine Bank v. Fulton Bank, 2 Wall. 252.
On the outbreak of the rebellion of 1861, both the States of Tennessee and Louisiana joined in that movement, and while those two states were both under the control of the rebel powers, the Planters' Bank of Tennessee (at Natchez) remitted to the Union Bank of Louisiana (at New Orleans) large sums of "Confederate Treasury notes," and also forwarded to it drafts and other claims for collection (and a few Confederate bonds for sale), it having been understood between the two banks that the drafts and claims thus forwarded for collection and the price of the bonds sent for sale were payable only in such Confederate currency, and all the collections made on account of the Planters' Bank having been made in that currency, with its knowledge and authority. In this way entirely, a large balance was made up in favor of the Planters' Bank. There was no controversy as to these facts.
About the 1st of May, 1862, New Orleans was recaptured by the government forces and passed into their control. A large balance, in the course of dealings already mentioned, was at this time due the Planters' Bank.
"All the rights of property of whatever kind will be held inviolate, subject only to the laws of the United States."
On the 6th of August, 1861, Congress passed "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," &c.;, and on the 17th of July, 1862, "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, and for other purposes." These acts designated certain agents for seizing the property of rebels and prescribed certain judicial proceedings for the condemnation of it in the courts of the United States, when belonging to natural persons who were rebels, to persons who aided, abetted, and gave comfort to the rebellion, or who held office under the so-called Confederate States or any state assisting to form them. But neither of the acts gave authority to military commanders to seize such property, nor did either make the property of any incorporated banks liable to such seizure.
whole balance due. The payment was made in Confederate notes ($211,774) and the quartermaster accepted them in discharge of the balance.
On the 15th of the same September, 1863, the Planters' Bank drew on the Union Bank for $86,646, the sum in federal money which it conceived to be due to it. The Union Bank refused to pay, alleging the seizure by General Banks and payment over accordingly. Thereupon -- on the 11th of September, 1866 -- the Planters' Bank sued the Union Bank in the court below to recover its alleged balance, with interest from the date of the demand. The defendant set up the facts of the case as above given, and that the Confederate moneys sent to the defendant by the Planters' Bank were issued and put in circulation by the said Confederate States during the rebellion for the purpose of maintaining and prosecuting the war &c.; that the dealings of the plaintiff in the said currency were designed on its part to give, and did contribute to give circulation and credit to such unlawful issues, and that it, the defendant, was therefore not liable, on account of the receipt of such currency, to the plaintiff in manner and form as by it alleged.
The case came to trial in February, 1868, and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount claimed in full, with interest, $113,296.01, and a judgment was entered accordingly.
"On motion of the attorneys for plaintiff it is ordered that a remittitur of interest allowed in the judgment in this case be entered, except what is claimed as follows"
motion was granted "without prejudice to the plaintiff's right to recover the balance under the judgment in the case."
The motion for a new trial was ordered to be reargued, and after the reargument a new trial was granted, "excepting as regards the sum of $26,752.63, admitted by the defendant to be due to the plaintiff."
On the 24th of January, 1871, two years and ten months after this, the case was again submitted to the jury, and they being sworn to try the issues, the court, against the defendant's objection, permitted the plaintiff to withdraw his remittitur.
"That the generals commanding the army of the United States, engaged in military operations against the rebels in the late civil war, had the legal power to seize and take possession of the property or effects of rebels whenever in their judgment necessary or conducive to the successful prosecution of the war; that the commanding generals were the sole judges [subject alone to the control of their military superiors] of the necessity or expediency of such seizures, and that if the jury find from the evidence that the military authorities exacted payment of the balance on the books of the defendant to the credit of the Planters' Bank and its branches, then that the military authorities thus exacting payment were invested, as regards said payments, with all the rights of a creditor."
"That if the demand of the plaintiff arose from the receipt of the so-called Confederate notes, with the authority of the plaintiff, and the military authorities of the United States exacted payment of said demand [and accepted payment in Confederate Treasury notes], and if the said payment was made accordingly to the said authorities under compulsion, and a receipt in full given for the amount so paid to them, then that the said payment and receipt are a valid acquittance and discharge of the defendant from any liability to the extent of such part of the demand of the plaintiff as arose from the receipt of the so-called Confederate Treasury notes for account of the plaintiff with its authority. "
"The jury will determine what the payment ought to have been. I consider that the military authorities had no right to transact with the defendant in this case; Confederate money was then almost worthless in the discharge of the debt due by the defendant to the Planters' Bank."
"That if the balance of account sued for is composed wholly or in part of direct remittances from the plaintiff to the defendant of Confederate Treasury notes to be placed to credit of the plaintiff, and of collections for their account of drafts, actually and in effect and intent, payable in Confederate Treasury notes, remitted for collections by plaintiff to defendant, and by the latter collected for account of plaintiff in Confederate Treasury notes, and that the banks were necessary instruments of the Confederate government in putting its issues of Confederate Treasury notes in circulation and forcing them upon the country, and that the plaintiff, as one of the banks, willingly lent itself as the instrument of the Confederate government to put those issues in circulation, then that the plaintiff cannot recover such amount of the balance thus composed of Treasury notes and 'collections.'"
"That no lawful or valid obligation can arise from the sale of bonds or securities of the Confederate government, and no action lies for the proceeds of such bonds."
But both these last two charges the court refused to give.
"That if the jury find that the defendant received 'Confederate currency' on behalf of the plaintiff and entered the same to the credit of the plaintiff on the books of his bank, and used the same in its general business, the defendant thereby became the debtor of the plaintiff, and the measure of the indebtedness is the value of 'Confederate currency' in the lawful money of the United States, at the time the credit was entered as aforesaid and the collections were made."
made by the defendant in 'Confederate currency,' and used by it in its general business, was the value of such currency at the date of demand of payment made by the plaintiff, and not at the date when such currency was received and used by defendant in its business. [ Footnote 1 ]"
The jury found in favor of the plaintiff for $24,713, with interest from the 15th of September, 1863, and judgment was entered accordingly.
The plaintiff to the refusal to charge as requested and to the charge as given.
Whether the payment in Confederate notes and the quartermaster's acceptance of them in discharge of the balance was a satisfaction of the claim of the plaintiffs upon the defendants is a controlling question in the case. The circuit court instructed the jury that it was not, because payment was made to the quartermaster in Confederate notes, which the court was of opinion he had no authority to receive, though holding that the military authorities thus exacting payment were invested with all the rights of a creditor.
"only reiterated the rules established by the legislative and executive action of the National government in respect to the portions of the states in insurrection, occupied and controlled by the troops of the Union."
That action, it was said, indicated the policy of the government to be, not to regard districts occupied and controlled by National troops as in actual insurrection, or their inhabitants as subject, in most respects, to treatment as enemies.
their debts to itself, and that such payments extinguish the claims of the original creditor. It does indeed appear to be a principle of international law that a conquering state, after the conquest has subsided into government, may exact payment from the state debtors of the conquered power, and that payments to the conqueror discharge the debt, so that when the former government returns, the debtor is not compellable to pay again. This is the doctrine stated in Phillimore on International Law, [ Footnote 5 ] to which we have been referred. But the principle has no applicability to debts not due to the conquered state. Neither Phillimore nor Bynkershoeck, whom he cites, asserts that the conquering state succeeds to the rights of a private creditor.
It follows then that the order of General Banks was one which he had no authority to make, and that his direction to the Union Bank to pay to the quartermaster of the army the debt due the Planters' Bank was wholly invalid. This makes it unnecessary to consider in detail the exceptions taken by the defendants to the rulings of the circuit court respecting the order and the alleged payment under it, for if the order was invalid, payment to the quartermaster did not satisfy the debt.
that the remittitur had the effect of a retraxit. As it was entered after judgment, such would perhaps be its effect if the judgment itself had not been set aside and a new trial had not been granted. [ Footnote 6 ] But such cannot be its operation now. If it takes effect at all it must in its entirety, and the plaintiffs must hold their first judgment for the balance unremitted. As that judgment no longer exists, there is no reason for holding that the remission of a part of it is equivalent to an adjudication against them. This assignment of error is, therefore, not sustained.
Another error assigned by the defendants is, that the court ordered execution to issue on the judgment first recovered for the sum of $26,752.63, without prejudice to the plaintiffs' rights to recover the balance, that amount having been admitted to be due, and that this was done before the motion for a new trial was disposed of. It must be admitted that though there was a judgment in existence, the order of an execution at the time it was made was anomalous. But there does not appear to have been any objection to it, and it is not shown that the defendants have sustained any injury in consequence of its issue. It may fairly be presumed that the defendants assented to the order, and admitted that the sum for which the execution was directed was due. The new trial afterwards granted was limited to the controversy respecting the excess of the claim over $26,752.63, which, as the order stated, "was admitted by the defendants to be due the plaintiffs."
for putting its issues of Confederate notes in circulation and forcing them upon the country, and that the plaintiffs, as one of the banks, willingly lent itself as an instrument of that government, then the plaintiffs could not recover such amount of the balance thus composed of Treasury notes and collections. The point, it will be observed, does not assume that the plaintiffs were willing agents, or agents at all of the Confederate government in putting into circulation the notes which went to make up the balance of account standing to their credit. It assumes only that they had, as such agents, put some of the issues of the government into circulation at some time, in some transaction with some person, not necessarily the defendants. That assumption, had it been sustained by the finding of the jury, was wholly impertinent, and therefore the only relevant question presented by the point was whether Confederate treasury notes had and received by the defendants for the use of the plaintiffs were a sufficient consideration for a promise, express or implied, to pay anything. After the decision in Thorington v. Smith, the point could not have been affirmed. A promise to pay in Confederate notes in consideration of the receipt of such notes and of drafts payable by them cannot be considered a nudum pactum or an illegal contract.
an illegal contract. The plaintiffs do not require the aid of any illegal transaction to establish their case. It is enough that the defendants have in hand a thing of value that belongs to them. Some of the authorities show that though an illegal contract will not be executed, yet when it has been executed by the parties themselves and the illegal object of it has been accomplished, the money or thing which was the price of it may be a legal consideration between the parties for a promise, express or implied, and the court will not unravel the transaction to discover its origin. Thus, in Faikney v. Reynous, [ Footnote 7 ] a plaintiff was allowed to recover in an action on a bond given by a partner to his co-partner for differences paid in a stock-jobbing transaction prohibited by act of Parliament. This was the case of an express agreement to pay a debt which could not have been recovered of the firm. Petrie v. Hannay [ Footnote 8 ] was a similar case, except that the partner plaintiff had paid the differences by a bill on which there had been a recovery against him, and his action against his co-partner for contribution was sustained. This was an action on an implied promise. Ex Parte Bulmer [ Footnote 9 ] goes much farther, and perhaps farther than can now be sustained. We are aware that Faikney v. Reynous and Petrie v. Hannay have been doubted, if not overruled, in England, but the doctrine they assert has been approved by this Court. [ Footnote 10 ] Lestapies v. Ingraham [ Footnote 11 ] is full to the same effect. We think therefore the court was not in error in refusing to affirm the defendants' points.
No more need be said respecting the exceptions taken and errors assigned by the defendants below. None of them is sustained.
evidence that the defendants received Confederate currency on behalf of the plaintiffs, and entered it to the credit of the plaintiffs on the books of the bank, and used it in their general business, the defendants thereby became the debtors of the plaintiffs, and that the measure of the indebtedness was the value of Confederate currency in the lawful money of the United States at the time the credit was entered and the collections were made."
This instruction the court declined giving, but in lieu thereof charged the jury that the measure of indebtedness for receipts, or collections, made by the defendants in Confederate currency and used by them in their general business, was the value of such currency at the date of demand of payment made by the plaintiffs, and not at the date when such currency was received and used by the defendants in their business. This refusal to instruct the jury as requested and the instructions actually given are now complained of as erroneous. We think, however, they were correct in view of the assumed and conceded fact. We do not controvert the position that generally a bank becomes a debtor to its depositor by its receipt of money deposited by him, and that money paid into a bank ceases to be the money of the depositor and becomes the money of the bank which it may use, returning an equivalent when demanded, by paying a similar sum to that deposited. Such is undoubtedly the nature of the contract between a depositor and his banker. So also a collecting bank ordinarily becomes the owner of money collected by it for its correspondent, and consequently a debtor for the amount collected, under obligation to pay on demand, not the identical money received, but a sum equal in legal value.
But it is to be observed this is the rule where money has been deposited, or collected, and when there has been no contract or understanding that a different rule should prevail. The circumstances of the present case are peculiar. It seems to have been conceded in the court below that the deposits were made in Confederate currency, and that the collections were made in like currency with the assent of the plaintiffs. The instructions asked of the court assume this.
placed in a better position than that they would occupy if the defendants had paid them the right quantity of Confederate notes when they were demanded? We think not. Clearly if the notes had appreciated after they were received by the defendants, and before the demand as made, the plaintiffs would have been entitled to the benefit of the appreciation. This is because of the nature of the transaction, and it would seem, for the same reason, the risk of depreciation was necessarily theirs.
This case differs very materially from Marine Bank v. Fulton Bank. [ Footnote 13 ] There, it is true, the collecting bank received depreciated currency of the Illinois banks, and, it may be assumed, with the assent of its correspondent. But there were positive instructions to hold the avails of the collections subject to the order of the bank which had sent the notes for collection, and the proceeds of the collections were an authorized lawful currency. The two banks therefore stood to each other in the relation of debtor and creditor, and the collecting bank acknowledged that relation immediately on the payment of the notes which had been sent to it for collection. Not so here. The collections were not made in money, and it was not the understanding of the parties that money should be paid. We hold, therefore, that the Planters' Bank ought not to be permitted to recover more than the damages sustained by it in consequence of the defendant's failure to deliver Confederate notes when they were demanded, and those damages are measured by the value of those notes in United States currency at the time when the demand was made and when the notes should have been delivered; and in so holding we do not intend to deny or qualify the doctrine asserted in Marine Bank v. Fulton Bank or in Thompson v. Riggs. [ Footnote 14 ] It follows that the charge given to the jury was correct.
There is, then, nothing in the record complained of by either party which would justify our ordering a new trial.
The reader will, of course, understand that between the two dates mentioned here, "Confederate currency" had largely diminished in market value.
12 Stat. at Large 756 § 4.
69 U. S. 2 Wall. 258.
Vol. 3, part 12, ch. 4.
Bowden v. Horne, 7 Bingham 716.
Armstrong v. Toler, 11 Wheat. 258; McBlair v. Gibbes, 17 How. 236; Brooks v. Martin, 2 Wall. 70.
5 Barr, 71; see also Farmer v. Russell, 1 Bosanquet & Puller 296.
33 U. S. 8 Pet. 181.
69 U. S. 2 Wall. 252.
72 U. S. 5 Wall. 663.
I dissent from the judgment of the Court in this case. The officer in command of the armies of the United States, after the possession of New Orleans had been secured, required debtors in New Orleans of creditors in the enemy's lines to pay such debts to the proper receiving officer of the army. That the debts due from the citizens of a belligerent state to the citizens of the state with whom the former is at war may be confiscated is undoubted international law. If such confiscation is in fact made by the military authorities, and if the action of those authorities is assumed or confirmed by the sovereign authority, the confiscation is perfect.
In this case, the acts of the military authorities have been substantially adopted and confirmed by the federal government in passing a law exempting military officers from all actions and suits for any acts done in their military capacity.
By this act, if any wrong was done, the government assumes it and holds itself responsible to the injured party, if any illegality occurred.
One party must suffer in this case, either the debtor or the creditor, and as the debtor was compelled to pay the debt to the military authorities, it ought not to be compelled to pay it over again to the creditor. Let the creditor apply to the federal government for relief, by which the acts of the military authorities have been, in effect, assumed and confirmed.
In my judgment, such a disposition of the case would better accord with the principles of international law and the mutual rights and relations of all the parties concerned.

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