Banking and Finance Law Commons^™

Usury Legislation - Its Effects On The Economy And A Proposal For Reform, Mark B. Riley

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note examines both the original and current purposes of general usury ceilings and evaluates the success of the ceilings in achieving these purposes. In addition, the Note considers the impact of the present form of usury legislation on the economy of those states that have such ceilings and proposes a model usury statute that attempts to accomplish the social policy objectives of the current legislation while also minimizing detrimental and unintentional effects on the economy...

This Note suggests that the proposal outlined above would solve the majority of the problems created by the present statutory form. The proposal recognizes …

A Regulator's View Of Banks In Community Development, Frank Wille

Vanderbilt Law Review

By and large, the nation's banks have not publicized the story of their significant, sometimes crucial, role in community development. For this low-profile approach, they have paid a high price in lack of public understanding and legislative empathy. Their record,however, is impressive, particularly if "community development" is broadly defined to include the various forms of assistance that banks render to state and local governments that sponsor or finance community development projects.

Financial Institutions, Municipal Finance, And Community Development, J. Dewey Daane

Vanderbilt Law Review

An overview of the very complex aspects of community development as they relate to financial institutions may be put into context with a reiteration of one of the basic tenets of American philosophy as stated in the Housing Act of 1949; that it be the policy of the United States Government to provide every American family "a decent home and a suitable living environment." As we narrow our focus to the more specific problem of decaying urban neighborhoods, we are faced immediately with the question of responsibility.

Residential Mortgage Lending: Charting A Course Through The Regulatory Maze, William F. Earthman

Vanderbilt Law Review

One specific issue addressed by this symposium is the practice of "redlining." If what is meant by "redlining" is discrimination in residential mortgage lending, I am certainly opposed to such a practice. If, however, what is meant by "redlining" is the consideration and analysis of the effect of the surrounding neighborhood on the property which secures a particular residential mortgage loan, then there are other problems which must be addressed and focused upon. It has been stated that a lender redlines a specific geographic area located within the larger geographic area normally serviced by that lender when the lender refuses …

Recent Cases, Linda A. Bunsey, David M. Thompson, Charles K. Campbell, Jr., Keith B. Simmons, Thomas C. Hundley

Vanderbilt Law Review

If the instant case, rather than Northway, is to become the accepted rule in the area of discounting, consumers and state lenders will be protected while the national bank-lenders will be burdened only slightly, if at all. National banks located in states that permit state lenders to discount loans at the maximum rate, with-out regard to the actual yield, will not be affected. National banks located in states that permit state lenders to discount only to the extent that the actual yield is within the statutory maximum will need to change their practices merely by charging the statutory rate only …

The One-Bank Holding Company Conglomerate, Franklin R. Edwards

Vanderbilt Law Review

In response to strong opposition, the political tide is slowly moving towards restrictive legislation that may well spell the demise of the one-bank holding company movement. But regardless of its form,the legislation ultimately adopted is certain to have an important influence on the future of our financial structure since many of the basic structural aspects are at issue. It therefore provides Congress with a golden opportunity to make fundamental changes. In effect, Congress's task is to reappraise our financial system with a view towards determining whether its underlying structure is still compatible with present goals and contemporary needs and, if …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Armed Forces--Courts-Martial Jurisdiction over Military Personnel Limited to Service--Connected Offenses

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Constitutional Law--Desegregation--Public Housing Authority Required to Build Most Units in White Neighborhoods

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Constitutional Law--Double Jeopardy--Fifth Amendment's Guarantee against Double Jeopardy is Applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment

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Constitutional Law--Garnishment--Prejudgment Wage Garnishment, in Absence of Conditions Requiring the Special Protection of a State or Creditor Interest, Violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

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Constitutional Law--State Taxation--State Use Tax Invalidly Applied to Fuel Gas Used as an Integral Part of Interstate Commerce

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Corporations--Corporate Director Accountable to Corporation Under State Law for Profits …

Bank Merger Policy And The Third National Bank Decision, Benjamin J. Klebaner

Vanderbilt Law Review

As measured by regional standards, banking in Tennessee's capital for years centered around three very large institutions and one of middle size. The latter, Nashville Bank and Trust Company(hereinafter Nashville Bank), merged into Third National Bank (the second largest bank in the area) in August, 1964, after the Justice Department failed to secure a preliminary injunction blocking the merger. This left Davidson County (the county in which Nashville is located) with seven banks, four of which were quite small. Nashville Bank was less than one-fourth the size of third-ranking Commerce Union Bank, but almost seven times as large as the …

Book Reviews, Herman L. Trautman, W. Harold Bigham

Vanderbilt Law Review

THE BEST OF TRUSTS AND ESTATES-ESTATE PLANNING

There are one hundred and four articles arranged in eight chapters entitled, "Estate Planning-A Panoramic View," "Using the Marital Deduction, "Income Tax Planning, " "Making the Most of Gifts,""Minimizing Administration Problems," "How to Handle Business Interests," "Arranging Life Insurance," and "Drafting Wills and Trusts." The citation and date of the original publication of each article is stated, and in many instances there is an addendum by the author which brings the article up to the date of the book. In addition there are excellent introductory commentaries by the editors at the beginning of …

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

In United States v. Philadelphia Nat'l Bank,' the Supreme Court enjoined a proposed merger of the second and third largest commercial banks in Philadelphia. The Court held, inter alia, that section 7 of the Clayton Act 2 applied to bank mergers, and that the merger in question might substantially lessen competition. Central to the reasoning of the majority was the premise that an unchecked trend toward concentration of market power in commercial banking is contrary to the public interest in maintaining competition among existing commercial banks. Since commercial banking had traditionally been considered exempt from section 7 prosecution, the cry …

Credit Unions--Regulatory Control Development--Problems--Recommendations, Charles D. Matthews

Vanderbilt Law Review

An awareness of the credit union, its economic and social impact,has a special significance to the lawyer. Although such significance appears minimized by a dearth of litigation addressed to credit unions in the past, this is not a true reflection of fact; nor would a true history of credit union litigation be a guide to the future. The lack of identifiable credit union litigation is chiefly due to the lack of appreciation by the bench for the distinguishing features of savings and loan associations, commercial banks, and credit unions. Two prospective developments should cause increased attorney contact with credit unions. …

The Scope Of The Depositor's Duty To Prevent And Discover Alterations And Forgeries Of His Checks, J. Timothy White

Vanderbilt Law Review

With billions of dollars worth of commercial paper changing hands daily, the business world cannot afford uncertainty as to the duties of the various parties to the paper, for uncertainty hinders negotiability. This is especially true in the case of the relationship between the drawer-depositor of a check and the drawee bank. Clearly the drawee may not normally debit the drawer's account when it pays a forged or materially altered instrument. However, when the drawer carelessly executes a check or does not bother to examine his checks when they are cancelled and returned to him, different considerations arise, altering the …

Capital Gains Tax: Significance Of Changes In Holding Period And Long Term Rate, Harold M. Somers

Vanderbilt Law Review

The capital gains tax. in this country has been subject to a number of changes in holding period and long-term rate. Once again, revisions are under consideration. The Administration's tax proposals of 1963 contemplate a change in the holding period from six months to one year and a change in the long-term rate from 50 per cent of the ordinary income bracket, with a maximum tax rate of 25 percent, to a simple inclusion of 30 per cent of long-term gains. With the proposed reduction in ordinary income brackets from a range of 20-91 per cent to a range of …

Equity -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, T. A. Smedley

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the past year noteworthy decisions have been handed down by the Tennessee courts relating to the availability of injunctive relief to restrain the perpetration of a nuisance, the commission of a trespass, the violation of a non-competition covenant, and the prosecution of an action at law. A suit for specific performance required a determination on the issue of whether the written memorandum was sufficient to satisfy the statute of frauds; and a ruling on the application of the clean hands maxim was necessary in a suit to remove a cloud on title. Finally, a clarification was made regarding a …

Agency -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

The appellate courts of Tennessee and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed down during the survey period a considerable number of interesting and significant cases dealing with the Tennessee law of agency. This article groups the cases and arranges them under topic headings. In most instances, the discussion of the case or cases under a topic heading is preceded by brief background material designed to place the cases in their proper setting and aid the reader in evaluating them.

Replevin Of The Contents Of Safe Deposit Boxes, Beverly Douglas Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is often stated that a plaintiff cannot recover in replevin' or detinue unless the defendant is in possession of the disputed goods at the commence- ment of the action. This requirement is fundamentally one of practicality. Since possession of the chattel is the primary object of an action for specific recovery, replevin is inappropriate unless the defendant is in a position to restore this possession to the plaintiff. But one may sometimes be able to put another in possession and have a duty to do so without himself having that combination of physical control and intent which the law …

Negotiated Vs. Competitive Debt Financing, Ralph S. Peterson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The principle of competitive bidding for municipal, equipment trust, and terminal issues has been so thoroughly tested during war, boom and depression markets, that its advantages are no longer questioned. It was the extension of this principle, however, to public utility securities generally in 1941, and to additional classes of railroad debt securities in 1944 which again aroused organized opposition from the traditional utility and railroad bankers and gave rise to their solemn predictions of the dire consequences which would follow the adoption of competitive bidding for such securities.

It is not possible within the scope of this article to …

The International Bank For Reconstruction And Development--A New Departure In International Finance, Robert L. Garner

Vanderbilt Law Review

Early in World War II, financial and economic experts of the Allied Nations concluded that if economic health was to return with the peace, the family of nations would have to forego the bad economic manners which had become commonplace between the wars. The conviction that a new and better economic household for the world had to be planned resulted in the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July, 1944, in which representatives of 44 nations participated.

The Conference met to solve two major problems. The first of these grew out of the chaotic …

The Significance Of Capital Surplus To The Investor, Charles E. Crouch

Vanderbilt Law Review

The examination of the net worth section of a balance sheet reveals two major parts, namely, (1) the capital stock account and (2) the surplus account. The surplus account is the balancing account which equalizes the difference between the assets, liabilities and capitalization. In this manner the surplus account becomes a reservoir into which are poured increases in net worth and out of which are dipped decreases. Although every transaction of a business either directly or indirectly bears upon the surplus account, corporate accountants and directors have not given enough attention to the proper treatment and handling of this important …

American Business And Risk Capital, Emil Schram

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the midst of a nation-wide business surge--in building, in steel, in automobiles and petroleum production and farming--our capital markets stand alone as the one "depressed area" in the national economy.

It is due to the failure of many of those who call the tune on our country's fiscal and credit policies to realize that they are sluicing off the top soil from a resource as definite and tangible as our farms; they are eroding something as measurable as our grazing lands; they are pumping off onto barren ground something as exhaustible as our oil wells.

I am speaking of …

Some Current Thoughts On Corporate Capitalization, Chester Rohrlich

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is nothing new in the basic legal problems connected with the need of each new business to somehow or other raise the necessary funds with which to launch the enterprise. It is primarily because of the flexibility which the corporate form of doing business affords in pooling together for a common business purpose the funds of many persons with diverse financial needs and objectives, that the corporation has achieved the preeminent position which it occupies. But while the fundamental questions are old, new times, new decisions and new statutes serve to emphasize different phases and different facets of the …

The Sec And The Broker-Dealer, Louis Loss

Vanderbilt Law Review

A couple of weeks ago the Commission handed down an opinion in a broker-dealer revocation proceeding which is the latest in a series of cases over the past few years that have gradually blocked out the duties of a broker-dealer to his customer. That case gives me my theme today.

It happens that most of what I am about to say relates primarily to the over-the-counter market. I was a little disturbed about the propriety of talking about over-the-counter problems under the auspices of this organization. However, we are all interested, I take it, in the problems of the securities …

Federal Regulation And State Gambling Laws, Walter H. Moses

Vanderbilt Law Review

The statement that the detailed regulation of security exchanges and transactions conducted thereon which is embodied in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933 and the regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder constitutes an encouragement to gambling in securities, no doubt quite properly places a heavy burden of proof on the person making it. This article has as its purpose a demonstration of the truth of such statement.

Over-The-Counter Securities Markets, Guy L. Clinton

Vanderbilt Law Review

Following the 1929 collapse, much attention has been centered on the role of the security exchanges in our economy. Whether or not improper operation of the securities markets had caused the instability of the national economy was not clearly apparent. However, as many persons believed that such was the case, or that such operation was at least a major factor in the economic ills of the country, the "crash" and the resulting investigations provided the impetus for a reform program in the investment banking segment of our economy, and one phase of this program dealt with securities.