Guthrie v. Harkness
Citations
- 199 U.S. 148
- 26 S. Ct. 4
- 50 L. Ed. 130
- 1905 U.S. LEXIS 1041
Syllabus
<p>States have no power to enact legislation contravening Federal laws for the control of national banks, but such banks are, for actions against them at law or in equity, deemed citizens of the States in which they are located, and the Federal courts have such jurisdiction only as they have in cases between individual citizens of the same States.</p> <p>The shareholder has' a common law right, for proper purposes and under, reasonable regulations as to time and place, to inspect the books of the corporation of which he is a member.</p> <p>The possibility of the abuse of a legal right affords no ground for its denial, and while an examination of the books of a corporation should not be granted for speculative or improper purposes, it should not be denied when asked for legitimate purposes.</p> <p>Where stockholders of a national bank have the legal right to enforce inspection, the state court has authority to enforce the right by granting the proper relief in a judicial proceeding. Nothing in sec. 5211, Rev. Stat. requiring reports by, or in sec. 5240, Rev. Stat. providing for examination of, national banks cuts down the usual common law rights of shareholders in such corporation's.</p> <p>The term visitorial powers as used in sec. 5241 does not include the common law right of the shareholder to inspect the books of the corporation.</p>
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- rejecting inspection request where plaintiff shareholder failed “to disclose one particle of testimony which would lead anyone to believe that the company was not being well managed”
- stockholder’s common law right to inspect the records of a national bank is not a visitorial power
- stockholder’s common law right to inspect the records of a national bank, even if a visitorial power, is within the exception for visitorial powers vested in the courts of justice
- inspection of national bank records by shareholder to determine value of holdings and insure compliance with loan limitations is not visitation
- “private civil cases in pursuit of personal claims against national banks, ... unlike attempts by state authorities to exercise authority over national banks using the courts, do not amount to visitations”
- “In no ease or authority that we have been able to find has there been a definition of this right, which would include the private right of the shareholder to have an examination of the business in which he is interested . . . ”
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Day
Read full opinion on CourtListenerSourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.