Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 1).pdf/467

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IN RE ARGUS PRINTING CO.
443

qualifications of voters, have no authority to inquire whether the stockholder who appears by the books to be a stockholder is or not the real owner of the stock standing in his name. They must take the company’s books as conclusive evidence of the qualifications to vote.” To same effect are Coleb. Coll. Sec. § 282; 1 Mor. Priv. Corp. §§ 170, 483; Burgess v. Seligman, 107 U. 8. 20-29, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 10. In State v. Smith, (Or.) ‘14 Pac. Rep. 814, (on rehearing, 15 Pac. Rep. 386,) it was held that the pledgee, who had secured a transfer to himself of the stock on the books of the corporation under the authority of the express language of the assignment of the stock, empowering the pledgee to transfer the stock to his own name on the books, was, nevertheless, not entitled to vote the stock. But the reason for the decision has no application in this jurisdiction. The court held that the power to make the transfer on the books, although unlimited, although without condition as to the time when it might be exercised, could not lawfully be exerted until the pledgee had destroyed the equity of the pledgor by foreclosure. This decision is clearly opposed to that of the court in Nicollet Nat. Bank v. City Bank, (Minn.) 35 N. W. Rep, 577, where the court affirmed a judgment against the defendant for conversion of stock, because it had refused to transfer the same upon its corporate books to the name of a pledgee thereof before foreclosure of the pledge, and while still a mere pledgee. This case recognizes the absolute right of the pledgee to such a transfer. Said the court: “Although the assignment to the plaintiff was for the purpose of collateral security, the plaintiff was entitled to have the same entered on the books of the bank.” To same effect, Dayton Nat. Bank v. Merchants’ Nat. Bank, 37 Ohio St. 215. The right of the pledgee to insist upon a transfer upon the books at once is recognized by numerous cases. Rich v. Boyce, 39 Md. 314; Hubbell v. Drexel, 11 Fed. Rep. 115-118; Coleb. Coll. Sec. § 272; and dissenting opinion of Lord, C. J., in State v. Smith, (Or.) Pac. Rep. 137, which accords with our views.

But our statute settles the question. It in express terms declares that a transfer of stock shall not be valid except between the parties, unless the transfer is entered upon the corporate