com. law. 1. A place for the deposit of money. 2. An institution, generally incorporated, authorized to receive deposits of money, to lend money, and to issue promissory notes, usually known by the name of bank notes. 3. Banks are said to be of three kinds, viz : of deposit, of discount, and of circulation; they generally perform all these operatious.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
1. A bench or seat; the bench or tribunal occupied by the judges; the seat of judgment; a court The full bench, or full court; the assembly of all the judges of a court A “sitting in bank?’ Is a meeting of all the judges of a court, usually for the purpose of hearing arguments on demurrers, points reserved, motions for new trial, etc., as distingished from the sitting of a single judge at the assises or at nisi prius and from trials at bar. But, in this sense, banc is the more usual form of the word. 2. An institution, of great value in the commercial world, empowered to receive deposits of money, to make loans, and to issue its promissory notes, (designed to circulate as money, and commonly called “bank notes” or “bank bills,”) or to perform any one or more of these functions. The term “bank” is usually restricted in Its application to an incorporated body; while a private individual making it his business to conduct banking operations is denominated a “banker.” Hobbs v. Bank, 101 Fed. 75, 41 C. C. A. 205; Kiggins v. Munday, 19 Wash. 233, 52 Pac. 855; Rominger v. Keyes, 73 Ind. 377; Oulton v. Loan Soc, 17 Wall. 117, 21 L. Ed. 618; Hamilton Nat Bank v. American L. & T. Co.. 66 Neb. 67, 92 N. W. 190; Wells, Fargo & Co. v. Northern Pac. R. Co. (C. C.) 23 Fed. 469. Also the house or place where such busi aess is carried on. Banks in the commercial sense are of three kinds, to wit: (1) Of deposit; (2) of discount; (3) of circulation. Strictly speaking, the term “bank” implies a place for the deposit of money, as that is the most obvious purpose of such an institution. Originally the business of banking consisted only in receiving deposits, such as bullion, plate, and the like, for safe keeping until the depositor should see fit to draw it out for use, but the business, in the progress of events, was extended, and bankers assumed to discount 3ills and notes, and to loan money upon mortgage, pawn, or other security, and, at a still later period, to issue notes of their own, intended as a circulating currency and a medium of exchange, instead of gold and silver. Modern bankers frequently exercise any two )r even all three of those functions, but it is still true that an institution prohibited from sxercising any more than one of those functions is a bank, in the strictest commercial jense. Oulton v. German Sav. & L. Soc, 17 SVall. 118, 21 L. Ed. 618; Rev. St U. S. $ $407 (U. S. Comp. St 1901, p. 2246). 3. An acclivity; an elevation or mound of jarth; usually applied in this sense to the raised earth bordering the sides of a water jourse. Bank account. A sum of money placed with a bank or banker, on deposit, by a customer, and subject to be drawn out on the lat ter’s check. The statement or computation of the several sums deposited and those drawn out by the customer on checks, entered on the books »f the bank and the depositor’s pass book. Gale r. Drake, 51 N. H. 84. Bank bill. A promissory note issued by a bank, payable to the t>earer on demand, and designed to circulate as money. Townsend v. People, 4 111. 328; Low v. People, 2 Park. Cr. R. (N. Y.) 37. State v. Hays, 21 Ind. 176; State v. Wilkins, 17 VL 155. Bank book. A book kept by a customer of a bank, showing the state of Mb account with it. Bank check. See Check. Bank credits. Accommodations allowed to a person on security given to a bank, to draw money on it to a certain extent agreed upon. Banknote. A promissory note issued by a bank or authorized banker, payable to bearer on demand, and intended to circulate as money. Same as Bank Bill, supra. Bank of issue. One authorized by law to issue its own notes intended to circulate as money. Bank v. Gruber, 87 Pa. 471, 30 Am. Rep. 378. Bank stock. Shares in the capital of a bank; shares in the property of a bank. Bank teller. See Teller. Joint stock banks. In English law. Joint stock companies for the purpose of banking. They are regulated, according to tine date of their incorporation, by charter, or by 7 Geo. IV. c. 46; 7 & 8 Vict cc. 32, 113; 9 & 10 Vict c. 45, (in Scotland and Ireland;) 20 & 21 Vict c 49; and 27 & 28 Vict. c. 32; or by the “Joint Stock Companies Act, 1862,” (25 & 26 Vict. c. 89.) Wharton. Savings bank. An institution in the nature of a bank, formed or established for the purpose of receiving deposits of money, for the benefit of the persons depositing, to accumulate the produce of so much thereof as shall not be required by the depositors, their executors or administrators, at compound interest, and to return the whole or any part of such deposit, and the produce thereof, to the depositors, their executors or administrators, deducting out of such produce so much as shall be required for the necessary expenses attending the management of such institution, but deriving no benefit whatever from any such deposit or the produce thereof.