United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Hyde v. Woods, 94 U.S. 523 (1876)

Hyde v. Woods

94 U.S. 523

Syllabus

1. A provision in the constitution of a stock and exchange board, whose members are limited in number and elected by ballot, that a member, upon failing to perform his contracts or becoming insolvent, may assign his seat to be sold, and that the proceeds shall, to the exclusion of his outside creditors, be first applied to the benefit of the members to whom he is indebted, the purchaser not becoming a member nor having the right to transact business in the board until he shall be elected by ballot, is neither contrary to public policy nor in violation of the Bankrupt Act.

2. Membership of the board is not a matter of absolute sale. Although property, it is, when purchased, qualified and encumbered by conditions which the creators of it had the right to impose, and a compliance with which is necessary to obtain it.

3. Nicholls v. Eaton, 91 U. S. 716, reaffirmed.