Underwood v. Bank of Huntsville

Rules of law should comport as much as possible with business customs and practices and with the intention of the parties. The majority's rejection of the Totten trust results in a blind rule that would give no weight to these considerations.

The Court of Appeals of New York resolved conflicting treatments of bank deposits in prior New York cases when it decided In re Totten, 179 N.Y. 112, 71 N.E. 748 (1904). It quoted extensively from the cases to explain the development of the rule that the creation of a bank account in the name of the depositor "as trustee for" (or, as here, "as custodian…