Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/563

 8T. LOtJIS NAT. BANK V. ALLEN. 551 �St. Lodis Nat. Bank v. Allen and others. (Oircuit Court, D. lowa., 1881.) �1. NATioNAii Bank— JuKisDicTioN of Cibctjit CoCrt— Citizewship. �A national bank is not authorized to sue in any circuit court of tho United States without regard to citizenship. �2. SaMB— JUHISDICTION— CiTIZBNSHrP. �A national bank is to be regarded, for the purpose of juriedlction, as a citizen of the state in which it is established or locaied. — \liSs>. �John N. Roger s, for demurrer. �Hagerman, McCrary e Hagerman, contra. �McCrabt, g. J. The demurrer to the petition in this case raises the question whether a national bank, organized under the act of congress of June 3, 1864, (13 St. 1 2,) and located in St. Louis, Mo., is authorized to sue, in this court, a citizen of this state. In the discussion of the demurrer two ques- tions have been suggested : (1) Whether a national bank is authorized to sue in any circuit court of the United States independently of any question of citizenship ; and (2) whether, for the purpose of juristiction, a national bank is to be re- garded as a citizen of the state in which it is established or located. �1. Although upon the first question there may be room for doubt, -we are inclined to answer it in the negative. The language of the statute is that national banks shall have power "to sue or be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law or equity as fully as natural persons." A fair con- struction of this provision would seem to go no further than to place these corporations on an equal footing -with natural persons, and to confer upon them the right to sue and be sued in the federal court only to the same extent as natural per- sons, and under like circumstances and conditions. �The first charter of the United States Bank, enacted in 1791, (1 St. 181,) contained a provision which empowered the bank "to sue and be sued, etc., in any court of record, or any other place whataoever. " This language is more com- prehensive than the corresponding clause above quoted from ����