Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/287

IN RE WARDBR. 27& �In re WardeR. �{District Court, D. New Jersey. Febniary 6, 1882.) �1. Heubebbhif ir Cobfobation as Assets. �Membership in a corporation, organized for business purposes, is property which passes to the assignee in bankruptcy, undcr sections 5044 and 5046 of the Revised Statutes, and which creditors of a bankrupt are entitled to have applied to the payment of their debts. �In Bankruptcy. Eule on bankrupl to transfer property. �Hamilton Wallis, for the assignee. �A. Marks, for the bankrupt. �Nixon, D. J. This is an application to the court for a rule upon the bankrupt, directing and requiring him to transfer his member- ship in the New York Produce Exchange to his assignee in bank- ruptcy, and to execute all writings necessary for that purpose. The motion is resisted by the bankrupt, on the ground that the certificat© of membership is not an asset belonging to the creditors under the provisions of the bankrupt law. �The single question is wliether membership in a corporation or- ganized for the purposes expressed in the charter of the produce exchange is property which passes to the assignee in bankruptcy, under sections 504e and 5046 of the Revised Statutes. �The charter and by-laws of the association ,were produced on the argument, and from these I learn that the original act of incorpora- tion was passed by the legislature of the state of New York on the nineteenth of April, 1862 ; that the name of the corporation was "ihe New York Commercial Association ;" that its purposes were to provide and regulate a suitable room or rooms for a produce exchange in the city of New York ; to inculcate j'ust and equitable principles in trade; to establish and maintaiu uuiformity in commercial usages; to acquire, preserve, and dissemiuate valuable business information j and to adjust controversies and misunderstanding between persons engaged in business. The act further authorized the corporation to take and hpld by grant, purohase, and devise real and personal prop- erty, to au amount not exceeding |300,000, for the pUrposes of the association. On the thirteenth of February, 1868, an amendment to the charter was obtained, changing the name from "The New York Commercial Association" to "New York Produce Exchange;" and on the nineteenth of May, 1873, another amendment was passed, au- ��� �