savings bank

An institution In the nature of a bank, established for the purpose of receiving deposits of money, for the benefit of the persons depositing, to accumulate the produce of so much thereof as shall not be required by the depositors, their executors or administrators, at compound interest, and to return the whole or any part of such deposit, and the produce thereof to the depositors, their executors or administrators, deducting out of such produce so much as shall he required for the necessary expenses attending the management of such institution, but deriving no benefit whatever from any such deposit or the produce thereof. Grant, Bank., 5th ed. 262; Bolles, Banks & Dep. 177. Savings banks are not banking institutions in the commercial sense of that phrase and are not to be classed as national banks in determining the validity of state taxation of the latter; National Bank of Redemption v. Boston, 125 U. S. 60, 8 Sup. Ct. 772, 31 L. Ed. 689. See Bank. Savings banks cannot do business as banks of discount unless by statute; In re Jaycox, 12 Blatchf. 209, Fed. Cas. No. 7,237. It has been considered that savings banks are trustees for depositors; In re Newport Sav. Bk., 68 Me. 396; Stockton v. Bank, 32 N. J. Eq. 163; and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of equity; In re Newark Sav. Inst. Case, 28 N. J. Eq. 552; they have been held to be agents for the depositor; Bunnell v. Sav. Soc., 38 Conn. 203, 9 Am. Rep. 380; and debtors; Feople v. Sav. Inst., 92 N. Y. 7; Reed v. Sav. Bank, 130 Mass. 443, 39 Am. Rep. 468. That the rights of the depositors are of a two-fold character and occupy a position similar to that of stockholders in an ordinary corporation, see 1 Moraw. Corp. § 391; but as long as the institution is solvent the depositors are mere creditors; id. Where the by-laws require the presentation of the pass-book, as a condition precedent to the withdrawal of the deposit and this regulation is printed in the book, it becomes a part of the contract between the parties; Peoples’ Savings Bank v. Cupps, 91 Pa. 315; Kimins v. Sav. Bank, 141 Mass. 33, 6 N. E. 242, 55 Am. Rep. 441. In case of the loss of the pass-book, the depositor has the right to receive his money without producing It; Palmer v. Sa^. Inst., 14 R. I. 68, 51 Am. Rep. 341. It has been held that after payment to one who was apparently in lawful possession of the pass-book, the real depositor cannot recover unless upon proof of want of care on the part of the officers of the savings banks. See Smith v. Sav. Bank, 101 N. Y. 58, 4 N. E. 123, 54 Am. Rep. 653. And even where the pass-book contains a stipulation that the deposit may be paid to any one who presents the book, the officers are still bound to use savings bank shall not be liable to pay a depositor when it has already paid the holder of his pass-book which had been stolen, is not binding unless the depositor has notice of it; Ackenhausen v. Bank, 110 Mich. 175, 68 N. W. 118, 33 L. R. A. 408, 64 Am. St. Rep. 338. In case of insolvency the assets are distributable among the depositors; Roan v. Winn, 93 Mo. 503, 4 S. W. 736. In Re Newark Sav. Inst. Case, 28 N. J. Eq. 552, the court made an order scaling down the deposits and authorized the savings bank to continue business. By statute in New York courts may scale down deposits of insolvent savings banks and authorize them to continue business. The surplus of a savings bank belongs in equity to its depositors, and is a part of its deposits in the same sense as the stipulated interest is; People v. Barker, 154 N. Y. 122, 47 N. E. 1103. A law providing that deposits which have remained unclaimed for thirty years, where the claimant is unknown or the depositor cannot be found, shall be paid to the state treasurer and receiver general to be held by him for the owner or his legal representative, is constitutional; Provident Institution for Savings v. Malone, 221 U. S. 660, 31 Sup. Ct. 661, 55 I a Ed. S99, 34 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1129. The mere fact that a deposit stands in the depositor’s name as “trustee” for another was held not ground for holding that an irrevocable trust was created, but to establish the creation of a “tentative” trust merely revocable by the depositor in his lifetime; In re Totten, 179 N. Y. 112, 71 N. E. 748, 70

See Bank, 3 (2).,. SC. See SciEE, Scilicet.

An institution only partially embodying the features of a bank in the full sense of the term, the purpose of which is to promote the prosperity of persons of small means and limited opportunities of investing them, by receiving their savings in even trivial sums, and lending them in larger amounts, whereby interest may be gained, to be divided among the depositors.