TABLE OF STATUTES CITED IN OPINIONS. (A.) STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES. PAGE 1789, Sept. 24, 1 Stat. 73, c. 20, 465, 466 1849, March 3, 9 PAGE 1875, March 3, 18 Stat. 477, c. 141, 659 474, 475 123, 126 648, 649, 651 1850, Sept. 28, 9 590, 594 1856, June 3, 11 Stat. 17, c. 41... 619 1856, Aug. 11, 11 Stat. 30, c. 83.. 619 1862, July 1, 12 Stat. 489, c. 120, 245, 246, 253 1862, July 2, 12 Stat. 503, c. 130, 590, 599, 600, 601 1863, Feb. 25, 12 Stat. 665, c. 5o, 647 1864, May 28, 13 Stat. 94. c. 99, 123, 126, 127 1864, June 3, 13 Stat. 99, c. 106, 647 1864, July 2, 13 Stat. 356, c. 216, 245, 247, 253 1866, July 23, 14 Stat. 218, c. 219, 596, 598, 601 1866, July 27, 14 Stat. 306, c. 288, 465, 466, 467 1867, March 2, 14 Stat. 558, c. 196, 466, 467 1868, Feb. 25, 15 Stat. 37, c. 13, 560 1868, June 8, 15 Stat. 67, c. 55... 600 1871, March 3, 16 Stat. 581, c. 126, 600 1872, March 5, 17 Stat. 37, c. 39, 180 1874, June 22, 18 Stat. 179, c. 390, 383, 384 1874, June 22, 18 Stat. 187, c. 391, 582 1875, Feb. 18, 18 Stat. 316, c. 80, 647 1875, March 3, 18 Stat. 339, c. 127, 474 1875, March 3, 18 Stat. 470, c. 137, 466, 467, 468, 470, 648 659, 660, 661 1887, Feb. 4, 24 Stat. 382, c. 104.. 561 1887, Feb. 23, 24 Stat. 414, c. 220, 659 1887, March 3, 24 Stat. 552, c. 373, 467, 468, 469, 470, 649, 650, 651 1888, Aug. 13, 25 Stat. 433, c. 866, 467, 649 1888, Oct. 19, 25 Stat. 566, c. 1210, 660 1889, Feb. 22, 25 Stat. 682, c. 180, 509 1889, March 2, 25 Stat. 857, c. 382, 561 1890, June 10, 26 Stat. 131, c. 407, 483, 486, 487 1891, March 3, 26 Stat. 826, c. 517, 140, 148, 659 1891, March 3, 26 Stat. 1085, c. 551, 661, 662, 663, 664 1891, March 3, 26 Stat. 1115 (Joint Resolution), 140, 659 Revised Statutes. .177, 181 182 § 471 181 § 563 484 629 648 § 639 .465, 466, 467, 468 860. 934 88 ..560, 564, 565, 585, 586 .485, 486 $2478. 177, 181 § 2785 485 §§ 2963, 2964, 2973. 485 xxi California. (B.) STATUTES OF THE STATES AND TERRITORIES. 1868, March 30, Laws of 1867-68, c. 543. Colorado. Maine. 197 501 1864, March 11, Sess. Laws, 1864, pp. 139, 149 .....123, 124 1877, Gen. Laws, 1877, c. 19, § 111 1881, Laws of 1881, p. 85..359 n. Rev. Stats. 1868, pp. 619, 629, 123 Dakota. 1862, May 15, Laws of 1862, Vol. I, p. 419, c. 69... .308, 311, 1871, Laws of 1871, c. 204... 504 1881, March 17, Laws of 1881, c. 91 Massachusetts. 217 n. 1871, March 8, Acts of 1871, ..571, 575 c. 91 Minnesota. Rev. Stats. of Territory of Minn. 1851, p. 94, c. 12, §§ 1, 7... 285 Stats. 1878, 4th ed. c. 11, §§ 1, 6. 285 312 Stats. 1891, §§ 1382, 1428. 285 Comp. Laws of 1887, Mississippi. §1593... 311 § 1629, p. 362 .306, 307, 308 Missouri. Political Code, c. 28, § 37 311 $ 40 310 56 311 62 .310, 311, 312 73. 78. 311, 312 305, 307, 308, 309, 312 Rev. Code, 1880, § 2878..... 23 Wagner's Stats. 1872, p. 214, 1 Rev. Stats. ed. 1879, p. 84; ed. 1889, p. 253, §§ 719, 723, New Hampshire. 119, 120 Gen. Stats. c. 99, § 20....... 577 New York. 1853, Laws of 1853, c. 539... 569 1857, Laws of 1857, c. 446... 570 Code Crim. Proc. 1890, 119 669 $ 491 § 492. $ 528 157 Rev. Stats. 1874, c. 38, pp. 372, 373....34, 35, 36 c. 47, p. 475.. c. 74, p. 615 Penal Code, Tit. 8, c. 1, § 79, 583 570 674 112 North Dakota. ..... 569 Indiana. 1 Rev. Stats. 345, § 8. §§ 103, 240, 242, 691, 694, 696, 506 § 2171 Code, Warth's ed. of 1884, 508 529 p. 639, c. 105.. 446 529 Wisconsin. 627 1848, Aug. 8, Laws of 1848, No. 2, p. 58...269, 271, 272, 277 Revision of 1860, § 1826. Rev. Stats. p. 569, § 2115, 626, 627 CASES ADJUDGED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, AT OCTOBER TERM, 1891. SPARHAWK v. YERKES. SPARHAWK v. ACKLEY. APPEALS FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. Nos. 56, 57. Argued October 28, 1891.- Decided December 7, 1891. In December, 1871, Y., who was a member of the stock exchanges in New York and in Philadelphia, was declared to be a bankrupt. At that time his seat in the New York Exchange was worth about $4000, and the other about $2000. By the rules of each, membership, in case of failure, was suspended until settlement with its members who were creditors, and the seat in each was liable to be sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of the debts of such of its members. At the time of his failure the indebtedness of Y. to members of the New York Exchange amounted to about $8500, and to members of the Philadelphia Exchange to nearly $22,000. The assignees notified each exchange of their appointment, but took no steps to adjust the debts or to acquire the seats, which were appraised as of no value. Within two years Y. notified them that assessments on the seats were overdue. They told him he was the proper party to pay them, and that what he might pay would be recognized as properly to be refunded, in case the seats should be sold by them. Y. was discharged in bankruptcy in 1873. From his private means he paid all assessments overdue and from time to time maturing, and eventually settled with all the creditor members. Such members had proved their VOL. CXLII-1 1 Statement of the Case. debts against his estate in bankruptcy, and in the several settlements he had the benefit of the dividends (28 per cent) paid by the assignees. Having thus settled all such debts he was, in June, 1883, reinstated in his membership in the Philadelphia board, and in December, 1883, in his membership in the New York board. At that time the value of the Philadelphia seat was about $6000, and of the New York seat about $20,000. In November, 1885, the assignees filed bills against Y. and each board, to have these memberships decreed to be assets of the bankrupt's estate. Held, (1) That the assignees must be deemed to have elected not to accept these rights as property of the estate; (2) That Y. was not their trustee in expending his own money to give value to a property which was worthless and abandoned; (3) That the assignees could not be permitted to avail themselves of the result of his action, or to take the property to work out a return of the dividends paid to these particular creditors. THE Court stated the case as follows: Charles T. Yerkes, Jr., made a voluntary assignment for the benefit of creditors to Joseph M. Pile, October 21, 1871. On December 13, 1871, he was adjudicated a bankrupt in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on a creditors' petition, filed November 10, 1871, and appellants were appointed his assignees, January 12, and the assignment of the bankrupt estate was duly made to them, January 24, 1872. In February, 1872, the bankruptcy court directed a transfer by Pile of the estate unadministered by him to the bankrupt's assignees, and this was subsequently executed and delivered. Ninety-nine creditors proved debts in the aggregate sum of $829,198.45, upon which dividends were declared and paid as follows: July 19, 1872, ten per cent; May 12, 1873, nine per cent; April 5, 1878, eight per cent; and January 30, 1880, one per cent. At the time of the adjudication Yerkes was a member of the New York and Philadelphia Stock Exchanges, which, it is conceded, were unincorporated associations. These memberships were included in the schedules filed in the bankruptcy proceedings, and therein stated to be "of no specific value," and in the inventory and appraisment of the estate subsequently made they were appraised as of no value. The Statement of the Case. Philadelphia membership was then worth not over $2000 and the New York membership about $4000, but the bankrupt was indebted to members of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in the sum of $21,842.11, and to members of the New York Stock Exchange in the sum of $8522.99, and under the rules of both associations membership was suspended until settlement with creditors, and, unless settlements were made as provided, the seats were to be sold and the proceeds divided among the creditor members. The assignees sent to the associations notice of their appointment, in January, 1872, and an additional notice to the New York Exchange, in May, 1873, stating that it was their duty to realize the value of the seat, and asking the president to indicate what form, if any, was prescribed by the rules for transfer or sale. They also addressed a communication to the Philadelphia board, and perhaps to both, in November, 1883. At some time within two years after the assignment, Yerkes brought to the assignees a notice of an assessment or charge due to one of the associations on account of the membership, and asked them what they were going to do about its payment; they answered that as the claim had been made upon him, they thought he was the proper party to pay it, and that anything he paid would be recognized as properly to be refunded out of anything the assignees might realize for the seats. On October 3, 1873, the bankrupt was discharged. In 1876 Hyde v. Woods, 94 U. S. 523, was decided, sustaining the validity of rules of stock exchanges providing for the application of the proceeds of sales of memberships to the debts due by members, which the assignees in these cases had previously been advised by counsel was the law. As testified by one of the assignees, they had not the slighest expectation of paying dividends aggregating over thirty-five per cent, and did not suppose that they could realize anything from the Philadelphia seat, because the indebtedness of the bankrupt to its members was largely in excess of its value, and of any dividend they expected his estate would pay (which was also true of the New York seat); they supposed Hyde v. Woods ruled the New York as well as the Philadelphia case, and |