Legal Opinion

Stout v. Benoist

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided October 15, 1866PublishedCited by 24 opinions

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court. I. The appellants are not liable to pay back the amount of the certificate; because where one of two innocent parties must suffer, the burden must fall upon him whose business it was to know the genuine signature of the depositor, and who, having the best means of detecting the forgery, failed to do so through negligence or inadvertence. II.

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Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court. I. The appellants are not liable to pay back the amount of the certificate; because where one of two innocent parties must suffer, the burden must fall upon him whose business it was to know the genuine signature of the depositor, and who, having the best means of detecting the forgery, failed to do so through negligence or inadvertence. II. After the respondent Stout discovered the forgery, it was his duty to notify the appellants within a reasonable time, so that they might take steps to protect themselves against loss; which was not done — Bank of U. S.…

1Opinion of the Court

Wa&ner, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

It appears from the record that on the 23d day of January, 1860, one William Morin deposited with the respondent, who was a banker in the city of St. Louis, three hundred dollars, and received a certificate therefor payable to the order of himself upon a return of the certificate properly endorsed. About the 4th or 5th of June, in the same year, Morin was in St. Joseph, Mo., and the certificate of deposit was stolen from him. On'the 5th of June a stranger entered the office of the Buchanan Life and General Insurance Oom-pany at St. Joseph with…

2Cases cited2 opinions

  1. President of the Bank of the United States v. President of the Bank of GeorgiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1825
  2. Levy v. President of the Bank of the United StatesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1802

3Cited by24 opinions

  1. United States v. National Exchange BankU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Wisconsin · 1891
  2. National Bank of Rolla v. First National Bank of SalemMissouri Court of Appeals · 1910
  3. Young v. Gretna Trust & Savings BankSupreme Court of Louisiana · 1936
  4. Woods v. Colony BankSupreme Court of Georgia · 1902
  5. Bank of Indian Territory v. First National BankMissouri Court of Appeals · 1904

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