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and this rule was subsequently followed in the courts of law.a

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■ Denston v. Henderson, 13 Johns. Rep. 322. The general rule, independent of statute, is, that damages on protested bills are governed by the lex loci contractus, and consequently the drawer is responsible for damages according to the law of the place where the bill is drawn, and the endorsers according to the law of the place where their respective endorsements were made. See infra vol. ii. 460. The proper rule, in cases of debts payable in a foreign country, in England, for instance, and sued in the United States, is to allow that sum in the currency of the country which approximates most nearly to the amount to which the party is entitled in the country where the debt is payable, and calculated by the real or established, and not by the nominal par of exchange. Mr. Justice Story (Story on Bills, 168) says, that for ordinary commercial purposes, the par of exchange between England and America, is to estimate the pound sterling at four dollars and forty-four This is the legal rule; but for revenue purposes, by the act of Congress of July 27, 1842, c. 66, it was declared, that in all payments by or to the treasury, whether made in the United States or in foreign countries, where it becomes necessary to compute the value of the pound sterling, it should be deemed equal to four dollars and eighty-four cents; and that the same rule should be applied in appraising merchandise imported, where the value is by invoice in pounds sterling. The creditor is entitled to have an amount equal to what he must pay, in order to remit the debt to the place where it was payable. He ought to have just as much allowed him where he sues, as he could have had if the contract had been duly performed. He ought to have the rate of exchange allowed, if the exchange be above par, and a proportionate deduction made, if the exchange be below par, in order to have his money replaced, in England, at exactly the same amount which he would have been entitled to receive in a suit there. This is the manifest equity, and the better law of the case. All advances of money or property, and sales of goods, are to be accounted for, if there be no agreement to the contrary, at the place where they are made, or authorized to be made. Scott v. Bevan, 2 Barnw. & Adolph. 78. Lord Eldon, in Carl v. Kennion, 11 Vesey, 316. Story on the Conflict of Laws, 255-260. Smith v. Shaw, 2 Wash. Cir. Rep. 167. Grant v. Healey, U. S. Cir. C. Mass. May, 1839. 3 Sumner's R. 523. Consequa v. Fanning, 3 Johnson's Ch. R. 587.610. S. C. 17 Johnson R. 511. Weed v. Miller, 1 M'Lean's Rep. 423. Story on Bills, 169, 170. Story on Promissory Notes, 495. The cases of Martin v. Franklin, 4 Johns. Rep. 124. Scofield v. Day, 20 ibid. 102. Adams v. Cordis, 8 Pick. Rep. 260, declared a contrary rule, and that a debt payable in England, and recovered in the courts of this country, was to be paid at the par, and not at the rate of exchange. But the weight of authority, if we connect the English and American cases together, as well as the justice of the point, is, however, in favour of the claim of the foreign creditor to be paid at

The rate of damages on bills drawn and payable within the United States, or other parts of North America, was, in 1819, regulated in New-York by statute,a and the damages fixed at five, or seven and a half, or ten per cent., according to the distance or situation of the place on which the bill was drawn. But by the new revised statutes, which went into operation on the 1st of January, 1830, the damages on bills, foreign and inland, were made the subject of a more extensive regulation. They provide, that upon bills drawn or negotiated within the state, upon any person, at any place within the six states east of New-York, or in New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia, the damages to be allowed and paid upon the usual protest for nonacceptance or non-payment, to the holder of the bill, a purchaser thereof, or of some interest therein. for a valuable consideration, shall be *three per *118 cent. upon the principal sum specified in the bill; and upon any person at any place within the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, five per cent.; and upon any person in any other state or territory of the United States, or at any

the rate of exchange. See supra, Smith v. Shaw, 2 Wash. C. C. Rep. and Grant v. Healy, 3 Sumner, and the other cases. Upon this rule only can the creditor be put in the same situation as if the debtor had punctually com. plied with his contract, and paid at the place where he had contracted to pay. The par of exchange between two countries is the equivalency of a certain amount of the currency of the one in the currency of the other, supposing the currency of both to be of the precise weight and purity fixed by their respective mints. M'Culloch's Comm. Dictionary, tit. Par of Exchange. If not, it is the amount which the standard coin of either country would produce when coined at the mint of the other. By this rule, the par of ex. change between England and the United States, taking the English sovereign of 1839 as a standard, is $4 86.01, because it will produce that amount at the mint.

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other place on or adjacent to this continent, and north of the equator, or in any British or foreign possessions in the West Indies, or elsewhere in the Western Atlantic Ocean, or Europe, ten per cent. The damages are to be in lieu of interest, charges of protest, and all other charges incurred previous to, and at the time of, giving notice of non-acceptance or non-payment. But the holder will be entitled to demand and recover interest upon the aggregate amount of the principal sum specified in the bill, and the damages, from the time of notice of the protest for non-acceptance, or notice of a demand and protest for non-payment. If the contents of the bill be expressed in the money of account of the United States, the amount due thereon, and the damages allowed for the non-payment, are to be ascertained and determined, without reference to the rate of exchange existing between New-York and the place on which the bill is drawn. But if the contents of the bill be expressed in the money of account or currency of any foreign country, then the amount due, exclusive of \the damages, is to be ascertained and determined by the rate of exchange, or the value of such foreign currency, at the time of the demand of payment.

The laws and usages of the other states vary essentially on the subject of damages on protested bills. In some cases, the regulations of states approximate to each other, while in others they are widely different. In some cases the law or rule is unlike, but the result

The general rule is, that the drawer of a bill is liable to the damages provided by the laws of the country in which it is drawn, and to no other. As. tor v. Benn, Stuart's Lower Canada Rep. 69. But this must be taken with some explanation; for the holder of a foreign bill, protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, is entitled by the law merchant to the settled rule of damages, (when none other is agreed to,) on re-exchange at the place where the bill was dishonoured. Vide supra, 115, 116, and Bank of U. S. v. Daniel, 12 Peters' S. C. Rep. 33. 54.

is nearly similar; while between other states the result varies from four and a half to fifteen per cent.

In Massachusetts, the usage was to recover the amount of the protested bill, at the par of exchange and interest, as in England, from the time payment of the dishonoured bill was demanded of the drawee, and the charges of the protest, and ten per cent. damages in lieu of the price of exchange.

But this #119 rule was changed, by statute, in 1825, and now, by the revised code of 1835 and 1837; and bills drawn or endorsed in that state, and payable without the limits of the United States, and duly protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, are now settled at the current rate of exchange and interest, and five per cent. damages; and if the bill be drawn upon any place beyond the Cape of Good Hope, twenty per cent. damages. The rate of damages in Massachusetts, on inland bills, payable out of the state, and drawn or endorsed within the state, and duly protested for non-acceptance or nonpayment, is two per cent. in addition to the contents of the bill, with interest and costs, if payable in any other New-England state, or New-York; and three per cent. if payable in New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland; and four per cent. if payable in Virginia, District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia; and five per cent. if payable in any other of the United States or the territories thereof.

In Rhode Island, the rule formerly was, according to the revised code in 1776, on bills returned from beyond sea, protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, ten per cent. damages, besides interest and costs.

The rule of damages in Connecticut, on bills returned protested, and drawn on any person in New-York, is two per cent. upon the principal sum specified in the

Grimshaw v. Bender, 6 Mass. Rep. 157.

bill; on New-Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New-York, (city of New-York excepted,) New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia or territory of Columbia, three per cent.; on North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio or Georgia, five per cent.; on any other part of the United States, eight per cent. upon such principal sum, and to be in lieu of interest and all other charges, and without any reference to the rate of exchange.a

In Pennsylvania, the rule, for a century past, was twenty per cent. damages in lieu of re-exchange; but by statute, in 1821, five per cent. damages were allowed upon bills drawn upon any person in any other of the United States, except Louisiana; if on Louisiana, or any other part of North America, except the North West Coast and Mexico, ten per cent.; if on Mexico, the Spanish Main, or the islands on the coast of Africa, fifteen per cent.; and twenty per cent. upon protested bills on Europe, and twenty-five per cent. upon other foreign bills, in lieu of all charges, except the protest, and the amount of the bill is to be ascertained and determined at the rate of exchange.

In Maryland, the rule by statute in 1785, is fifteen per cent. damages, and the amount of the bill ascertained at the current rate of exchange, or the rate requisite to purchase a good bill of the same time of payment upon the same place.

In Virginia and South Carolina, the damages, by statute, are fifteen per cent.b

In North Carolina, by statute, in 1828, and revised in 1837, damages on protested bills, drawn or endorsed in that state, and payable in any other part of the United States, except Louisiana, are six per cent.; paya

Statutes of Connecticut, 1838, 477.

Revised Statutes of Virginia, edit. 1814, vol. i. 158.

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