Board of Trade of Chicago v. Johnson

Citations

• 264 U.S. 1
• 44 S. Ct. 232
• 68 L. Ed. 533
• 1924 U.S. LEXIS 2471

Syllabus

<p>1. Decisions of state courts defining property rights do not bind the federal courts in bankruptcy, when contrary to the policy and proper construction of the Bankruptcy Act. P. 10.</p> <p>2. A membership in the Chicago Board of Trade, which, under the rules of the association, the owner may sell to any person eligible to membership approved by the board of directors, subject to the right of his co-members to prevent the sale or transfer until he satisfies his debts to them, is incorporeal property, the possession and control of which, for the purpose of disposition in accordance with the -rules, pass to the member’s trustee in bankruptcy, under § 70a (5) of the Bankruptcy Act. Pp. 8, 12.</p> <p>3. The right of the trustee in bankruptcy, to have the membership sold, as against the Board and members claiming the right to prevent transfer until debts owed them by the bankrupt are paid —may be determined by the District Court in a summary proceeding. P. 11.</p> <p>4. Where the rules provided that a membership in an exchange might be transferred with the approval of the directors, if there were no unsettled claims upon the owner, and if the membership was not in any way impaired or forfeited, and directed that, prior to transfer, the application therefor should be posted 10 days, when, in the absence of objection, “ it shall be assumed the member has no outstanding claims against him,” held that failure of creditor members to object to a proposed transfer, during the 10 days, or withdrawal of objections made, did not estop them from objecting soon after the owner of the membership went into bankruptcy, the directors not having approved the transfer meanwhile. P. 14.</p> <p>5. Members of an exchange having claims under contract made with a co-member acting as agent of a corporation, held entitled under the rules of the exchange, to object to a transfer of the membership by the owner’s trustee in bankruptcy until their claims against the corporation were satisfied. P.