If his duties are definitely prescribed by the board of directors, he is held accountable only to them for a failure in the performance of the same.

If he is the subordinate of the cashier and follows his orders and directions he cannot be held personally liable for loss or injury to the bank.

Where a teller is selected and retained by the bank, to perform the duties of receiving teller, the cashier may also receive moneys for deposit, for his duties are co-ordinate with the teller in this particular.

§ 153. An act prescribing punishment for mutilating, uttering, or passing United States coins.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section fifty-four hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended so as to read as follows: "SEC 5459. Every person who fraudulently, by any art, way, or means, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens or causes or procures to be fraudulently defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, sealed, or lightened, or willingly aids or assists in fraudulently defacing, mutilating, impairing, diminishing, falsifying, scaling, or lightening the gold or silver coins which have been or which may hereafter be, coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign gold or silver coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States, or who passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or bring into the United States from any foreign place knowing the same to be defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened, with intent to defraud any person whatsoever, or has in his possession any such defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened coin, knowing the same to be defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened, with intent to defraud any person whatsoever, shall be imprisoned not more than five years and fined not more than two thousand dollars."

The note teller's duties are to receive the money for all promissory notes liquidated at the bank.

There are two kinds of notes. The notes which are discounted by the bank are called "bills discounted "; those left for collection are collection notes."

All the notes falling due are placed in the hands of the teller on the day of their maturity. The discounts are received from the discount clerk; the total amount is usually marked on a slip of paper strapped around the notes. When the collection is made the amount is credited to "bills discounted" in the general ledger.

All other notes, falling due and belonging to the bank on the day of maturity, are placed in the hands of the note teller by the collection clerk; the amount of each note is either marked in pencil on the note or is shown by a ticket accompanying the note. After the notes are placed in his hands, he is authorized to receive payment. All notes received by him which are payable at other places in the city are sent out by messenger for presentation and collection. When notes are paid, certified checks or money should be demanded. The teller should be careful to preserve all memoranda of his transactions, in the order of their occurrence, until his cash is proved at the close of business for the day. At the close of business he erases from the cash-book and discount tickler such notes remaining unpaid, and when not otherwise instructed and when protest is necessary, places them in the hands of a notary public for that purpose. He should demand of the notary a receipt for such notes as are placed in his hands. When a note is forwarded to a foreign place for collection, the items or notes are duly entered in a letter form which shows each item or transaction; from this letter the items and totals can be taken and posted in the note teller's cash-book.

The letter under this system is the original entry and a copy thereof should be taken and preserved.

At the close of each day's business the teller must account for the disposition of all notes received by him. His tag or memorandum charging himself with notes uncollected and which are not in his hands should not be accepted. He should present receipts or acknowledgments for all notes and collections when called upon to do so.

CHAPTER XIII.

BANK POWERS DEFINED.

§ 155. Statutory and expressed powers.

The powers given to banks are those derived from their charters and the law creating them, and the statute of the State under which they operate. The statutory powers are called the express powers.

The expressed powers of national banks are the laws enacted by Congress, creating the right of a banking corporation to organize and to conduct the business of banking and prescribing their duties and powers. The express powers are those which directly authorize certain things appertaining to banking, and which guarantee the right of the bank to put them into use and force.

In law, an express or statutory power is one defined and authorized by the legislative body of the State, granting authority to do and perform certain things; and when authorized by law to do and perform an act under such expressed or statutory provisions, the right to do the same can only be inquired into by the State.

A law may be unconstitutional, but the right to put it into force until it is adjudged so by a court of competent jurisdiction, cannot be questioned.

The expressed powers enumerated in the statute, authorizing a bank, when duly incorporated, to do and perform certain things, are privileges created by law. The extent and use of these powers may present questions requiring adjudication by the courts, but banking corporations may use all the powers granted to them by the statute, and if their acts, when performed, are within the law, being lawful, they cannot afterward be declared unlawful.

The statute may grant a specific power to a bank, and prohibit another privilege, which is not unlawful in itself, but dangerous if allowed to be performed by a bank. This is termed a police power or regulation.

A statute may specify the principal things which a bank may do, and prohibit it from doing certain other things which it might lawfully do if they were not prohibited. But the Legislature seldom undertakes to define all the powers expressed, implied, or incidental, belonging to the banking business, but usually contents itself by specifying the principal privileges or powers which it may exercise.

The implied or incidental powers are those not enumerated by the Legislature, but are such as pertain to, and are conferred upon banking corporations by accepted and long-continued use and custom.

The courts recognize these incidental privileges and inherent powers as necessary incidents in carrying on and conducting the business of banking. While customs and uses do not, in every instance, signify that they are fixed privileges or laws, a well-established custom, if reasonable and just, by decisions of the courts, may pass into a fixed rule of law and become a recognized principle and privilege.

The decisions of the courts generally go to the extent in defining incidental or implied powers; "and say that a bank may make any contract, or establish any reasonable custom affecting or appertaining to the business of banking, and can exercise the powers expressly enumerated in the statute, and also such powers which are properly incidental to the business of banking in conducting its affairs."

In the case of Logan County National Bank v. Townsend, the Supreme Court of the United States fully established this principle:

The court, in discussing the question, says: "It is undoubtedly true, as contended by the defendant, that the National Banking Act is an enabling act for all associations organized under it, and that a national bank cannot rightfully exercise any powers except those expressly granted by that act, or such incidental powers as are necessary to carry on the business of banking for which it was established."

A banking corporation has all the powers expressed and implied though not enumerated in its charter, which are lawful and authorized in the formation of such a corporation, whether organized under a general or special law. It has also