Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/261/253/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 20:43:45+00:00

Document:
1. The right to priority of payment provided for by Rev.Stats. § 3466, attaches when the conditions specified by the section come into existence, and it cannot be impaired or superseded by a state law. P. 261 U. S. 259.
2. The State of Oklahoma acquires no lien on the assets of a state bank under § 303 of c. 6, Rev.Laws Okla.1910, before possession of the bank has been taken by the state bank commissioner. P. 261 U. S. 260.
3. The word "insolvent," as used in Rev.Stats. § 3466, and the Bankruptcy Law, applies only where a debtor's property is insufficient to pay all his debts. P. 261 U. S. 260.
meaning of that section and does not otherwise satisfy its conditions, either as a voluntary assignment, as an attachment of assets of an absconding, concealed, or absent debtor or as an act of bankruptcy as defined by the Bankruptcy Act (§ 3a) or any law of the state. P. 261 U. S. 262.
Lewis v. United States, 92 U. S. 618), invokes jurisdiction of this Court on the ground that, when the bank and its assets were taken over by the state through its bank commissioner, the state acquired title to the same, and is therefore the proper party to be sued. State v. Cockrell, 27 Okl. 630; Lankford v. Platte Iron Works Co., 235 U. S. 461; American Water Co. v. Lankford, 235 U. S. 496; Farish v. State Banking Board, 235 U. S. 498. No objection to jurisdiction is made by the state, and the state does not deny that the United States is entitled to priority on account of money deposited by it as guardian of the Indians to the same extent as in the case of any other deposit. The state's contentions are that § 3466, properly construed, does not give the United States priority, that the state has a lien on the bank's assets, and that the priority rights (if any) of the United States are subject thereto, and that, priority rights under the act do not apply where a sovereign state has a lien against its debtor.
property to pay all his debts shall make a voluntary assignment," etc. Mere inability of the debtor to pay all his debts in ordinary course of business is not insolvency within the meaning of the act, but it must be manifested in one of the modes pointed out in the latter part of the statute which defines or explains the meaning of insolvency referred to in the earlier part. United States v. State Bank of North Carolina, 6 Pet. 29, 31 U. S. 35; United States v. Fisher, 2 Cranch 358, 6 U. S. 390; United States v. Hooe, 3 Cranch 73, 7 U. S. 90; Prince v. Bartlett, 8 Cranch 431, 12 U. S. 433; Conard v. Atlantic Insurance Co., 1 Pet. 386, 26 U. S. 439; Brent v. Bank of Washington, 10 Pet. 596, 35 U. S. 611; Field v. United States, 9 Pet. 182, 34 U. S. 201. Where the debtor is divested of his property in one of the modes specified in the act, the person who becomes divested with the title is made trustee for the United States, and bound first to pay its debt out of the debtor's property. Beaston v. Farmers' Bank of Delaware, 12 Pet. 102, 37 U. S. 133-135. The priority given the United States cannot be impaired or superseded by state law. If priority in favor of the United States attaches at all, it takes effect immediately upon the taking over of the bank. The state has no lien on the assets of the bank before the taking of such possession by the bank commissioner.

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