A statute of Mississippi, adopted in 1932 (Laws 1932, c. 251), permits the reopening of closed banks upon terms proposed by three-fourths of the creditors in number or in value if the plan is approved by the superintendent of banks and confirmed by the court of chancery. A bank has been reopened in accordance with this statute. The question is whether contractual rights have been impaired or rights of property annulled in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States.
The People's Bank & Trust Company of Tupelo, Miss., closed its doors on December 24, 1930. In accordance with the statutes then in force (Code 1930, § 3817), the superintendent of banks took charge of the business and proceeded to liquidate it; his action being subject at all times to the supervision of the court of chancery. The bank owed about $200,000 for public moneys on deposit. These were preferred claims under the laws of Mississippi, and were paid in full. It owed for bills payable and rediscounts $457,500, amply secured by collateral. These also were paid in full; the security being unaffected by liquidation or insolvency. Out of the remaining assets, so far as they would serve, the liquidator would have to pay the general deposits (about $1,450,000) as well as any other debts. There was also available for the protection of depositors the personal liability of the shareholders to the extent of the par value of their shares, a liability which under the statute was to be 'enforced in a suit at law or in equity by any such bank in process of liquidation, or by the superintendent of banks, or other officer succeeding to the legal rights of said bank.' Mississippi Code, § 3815. The share capital of the bank was $200,000, and the personal liability of the shareholders would have added a like amount to the assets if all the shareholders had paid in full.
In the fall of 1932 after about two years of liquidation by the superintendent of banks, a movement was started by a large number of depositors to set the bank upon its feet. For help in that endeavor, they had recourse to methods made available by a statute adopted in May, 1932, which is quoted in the margin. Laws Missis sippi 1932, c. 251, Mississippi Code Supp. 1933, § 3817-1. The substance of the statute is that the court of chancery shall have power to reopen a closed bank in accordance with a plan proposed by at least three-fourths of the creditors and recommended by the superintendent, if the court is satisfied that the plan is feasible and just. Upon the approval of such a plan, assenting and nonassenting creditors shall be required to accept payment in accordance with its terms. The superintendent shall have no power to diminish to the prejudice of creditors any assets that otherwise would be available for payment. Liquidation by the bank itself, though in a reorganized form, is to be substituted for liquidation at the hands of a statutory receiver.