Cite as: 519 U. S. 213 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
governed and construed by State laws. Their acquisition and transfer of property, their right to collect their debts, and their liability to be sued for debts, are all based on State law. It is only when the State law incapacitates the banks from discharging their duties to the government that it becomes unconstitutional." 9 Wall., at 362.
The Court subsequently found numerous state laws applicable to federally chartered banks. See, e. g., Davis v. Elmira Savings Bank, 161 U. S. 275, 290 (1896) ("Nothing, of course, in this opinion is intended to deny the operation of general and undiscriminating state laws on the contracts of national banks, so long as such laws do not conflict with the letter or the general objects and purposes of Congressional legislation"); First Nat. Bank in St. Louis v. Missouri, 263 U. S. 640, 656 (1924) (national banks "are subject to the laws of a State in respect of their affairs unless such laws interfere with the purposes of their creation, tend to impair or destroy their efficiency as federal agencies or conflict with the paramount law of the United States"); Wichita Royalty Co. v. City Nat. Bank of Wichita Falls, 306 U. S. 103 (1939) (applying state law to tort claim by depositor against directors of a national bank); Anderson Nat. Bank v. Luckett, 321 U. S. 233, 248 (1944) ("[N]ational banks are subject to state laws, unless those laws infringe the national banking laws or impose an undue burden on the performance of the banks' functions"); California Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. Guerra, 479 U. S. 272 (1987) (applying state employment discrimination law to federally chartered savings and loan association).
For present purposes, the consequence is the following: To point to a federal charter by itself shows no conflict, threat, or need for "federal common law." It does not answer the critical question.
Third, the FDIC refers to a conflict of laws principle called the "internal affairs doctrine"—a doctrine that this Court has described as
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