State v. First National Bank

Citations

• 2 S.D. 568
• 51 N.W. 587
• 1892 S.D. LEXIS 21

Syllabus

<p>1. Section 4, Chapter 866, U. S. St. 1888, in respect to the jurisdiction of state courts in all actions by or against national banks, refers exclusively to civil actions, and the right of the state to punish a national bank for a violation of its police laws cannot be predicated upon it.</p> <p>2. Por any public offense which it can commit, a corporation may be indicted the same as a natural person.</p> <p>3. A national bank, or any other corporation which congress, in the exercise of its legal powers, may authorize to be organized and operated, must be allowed to pursue the business and purpose ol' its organization, and exercise all the powers necessary or incident to such business without any restraint by or accountability to state laws; but, in the absence of other expresssion by congress; this is the extent of its exemption from subjection to state legislation.</p> <p>4. The state law makes the taking of illegal interest a misdemeanor, and, in case of a corporation, punishes the same by fine. To require a national bank to so pay money to the state is not necessarily such an interference with the proper discharge of its duties to the government as will make such requirement invalid.</p> <p>5. One of the powers included in the authorized business of a national bank is to receive interest on loans, which power is thus defined in the law: “Every association may take, receive, reserve, and charge, on any loan or discount made, or upon any note, bill of exchange, or other evidences of debt, interest allowed by the laws of the state or territory where the bank is located, and no more,” etc.</p> <p>6. A state law, making it a misdemeanor for the bank to do an act which the creative law has expressly refused to authorize or allow it to do, cannot “interfere with or impair its efficiency in performing its functions,” or, if enforced against it, “incapacitate it from discharging its duties.”</p> <p>7. With a few exceptions, having no pertinency in this ease, the police