the benefits attaching to the good will without rendering himself accountable to the estate of the deceased partner or to the retiring partner for its value.
A situation in many ways similar to that disclosed on the record in the instant case was presented to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in the case of Lindemann v. Rusk, 125 Wis. 210, 104 N. W. 119. The facts, briefly stated, are that in 1891 the Bank of Viroqua was organized by the incorporators, Rusk and Lindemann, each taking half of the stock, the charter to continue for 10 years. In 1893 Rusk died. Lindemann from the organization and until the expiration of the charter was in the active management of the bank. In December, 1900, just before the expiration of the charter, Lindemann organized a new bank under the name, “Bank of Viroqua,” the stock of which was subscribed for by himself and children. The new bank opened and started business the morning of the day following the expiration of the charter of the old bank, and the Lindemanns, in this manner, secured the benefit of the good will, if any, of the old bank. In an action to secure the complete liquidation of the old bank and compel an accounting, the court, in discussing the element of good will, answered many of the arguments advanced by the defendants in this case. We therefore feel justified in quoting the opinion at length and adopting the holdings as applicable to the case at bar. The court said:
“The trial court found that, at the time the bank ceased to do a going business under its charter, it owned and was possessed of a good will, which was of the reasonable value at that time of $16,000,’ and held that it had been wrongfully appropriated by William F. Lindemann, the surviving director of the bank, for the benefit of the new bank of Viroqua, organized by himself and his children, and which conducted a banking business in the offices of, and in immediate succession to, the old bank. That a banking corporation may have a good will, which, when acquired, constitutes a species of property, is abundantly supported by authority. Bank of Tomah v. Warren, 94 Wis. 151, 68 N. W. 549; People ex rel. A. J. Johnson Co. v. Roberts, 159 N. Y. 70, 53 N. E. 685; Mitchell v. Read, 84 N Y. 556; Washburn v. Nat. W. P. Co., 81 Fed. 17, 26 C. C A. 312; Wilmer v. Thomas, 74 Md. 485, 22 Atl. 403. Good will is the result of the employment of capital in some established business. It augments its value, and is an incident to the conduct of the enterprise. It exists at the place where the busi-
