Chickerneo v. Society National Bank of Cleveland

The nature of a bank’s right to setoff was described by this court in Bank v. Brewing Co. (1893), 50 Ohio St. 151, at pages 158-159, as follows:

“It is said to be a well settled rule of the law merchant, that a bank has a general lien on all the funds of a depositor in its possession, for any balance due on general account, or other indebtedness contracted in the course of their dealings, and may appropriate the funds to the payment of such indebtedness. The right to make such appropriation, it is held, grows out of the relation of the parties as debtor and creditor, and rests upon the…