Case Name: In re HASTINGS
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1907-07-15
Citations: 105 N.Y.S. 834
Docket Number: 
Parties: In re HASTINGS.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 105
Pages: 834–838

Head Matter:
(120 App. Div. 756)
In re HASTINGS.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
July 15, 1907.)
1. Corporations—Books op Corporation—Right to Inspect.
The right to examine books of a corporation is purely a personal right, depending on the ownership of capital stock of the corporation.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 12, Corporations, §§ 674, 678.]
2. Same—Persons Entitled.
A petition for the inspection of the books and records of a corporation alleged that petitioner was temporary administrator of the estate of a decedent and also residuary legatee under her will, which was being contested ; that decedent was' at the time of her death a stockholder in the corporation, the affairs of which had been mismanaged and its real condition concealed from both decedent and petitioner; that such mismanagement still continued; and that tiie estate was being endangered thereby. Meld, that petitioner was not entitled to at} inspection of the books, since ■he was a stranger to the corporation,, and whether he would ever be a member thereof depended on the proceedings for the contest of the will.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 12, Corporations, §§ 674, 678.]
Laughlin and Scott, JJ., dissenting.
Appeal from Special Term, New York County.
Petition by George Gordon Hastings, as temporary administrator ot the estate of Rosalie Tousey Hastings, deceased, for the inspection of the books and records of Frank Tousey, Publisher, a corporation. From an order granting a peremptory writ of mandamus for the inspection of such books and records, Sinclair Tousey and others, in- ' dividually and as officers and directors of the corporation, appeal.
Reversed.
Argued before INGRAHAM, McLAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN, CLARKE, and SCOTT, JJ.
James M. Hunt, for appellants.
Theron Davis, for respondent.

Opinion:
INGRAHAM, J.
The right to examine books of a corporation is purely a personal right, depending upon the ownership of capital stock of the corporation. A stockholder, as the owner of stock, becomes a member of the corporation, and it is based upon this fact of ownership in the corporation that his right is recognized at common law to ex- , amine the books of the corporation and lie informed as to its business. A mere custodian of stock, holding it merely for the- purpose of pre serving it pending a litigation as to its ownership, does not become a member of the corporation, and as such is not entitled to maintain this proceeding. The petitioner is a stranger to the corporation, and whether he will ever be the owner of any stock or a member of the corporation depends upon the proceeding in the Surrogate's Court:. I have great doubt about the good faith of the application, but it is not a proceeding necessary to preserve the interest of the deceased in the corporation, and I do not think the petitioner is in a position to institute it.
I think, therefore, the order appealed from should be reversed, with $10 costs and disbursements, and the motion denied, with $10 costs.
• MCLAUGHLIN and CLARKE, JJ., concur.