Case ID: ga_20/html/0561-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Lumpkin, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

No. 98.
    Benson Roberts, administrator of Jefferson Adams, deceased, plaintiff in error, vs. William Prior, defendant in error.
    
    £1.] A contract for the hire of a negro at a stipulated price, to be paid at the end of the year, is a liquidated demand and bears interest.
    £2.] A debt is liquidated when it is certain how much is due and when it is due. ^
    £3.] An unliquidated claim is one which one of the parties to the contract p^pnot alpne render certain.
    Assumpsit, in Pike Superior Court. Tried before Judge Greene, April Term, 1856.
    Benson Roberts, as administrator of Jefferson Adams, brought an action of assumpsit against William Pryor, on the following account:
    Wm Pryor, to Jefferson Adams, Dr.
    1849. Jan. 1. To hire of negro boy Jim for 1848, $220 00
    Int. on same for 3 years to Jan. 1. 1852, $47 25
    1850. “ “ Hire of negro boy Jim for 1849, $225 00
    Int. for two years to Jan. 1852, $31 50
    1851. “ “ Hire of negro boy Jim for 1850, $225 00
    Int. for one year to Jan. 1852, $15 75
    1852. “ “ Hire of negro boy Jim for 1851, $225 00
    
      The defendant pleaded payment.
    The only question which arose in the progress of the trial. ■of the cause, was as to the interest.
    Counsel for the plaintiff requested the Court to charge the-Jury, that plaintiff was entitled to recover interest on the balance due for the hire of the negro boy Jim, from the different dates at which the hire was due. The Court refused to give the charge, and decided that plaintiff’s claim was an unliquidated demand, and did not carry interest.
    To which charge and refusal to charge Counsel for plaintiff excepted.
    Aleor» & Moore ; Whittle, for plaintiff in error.
    Starke, for defendant.
   By the Court.

Lumpkin, J.

delivering the opinion.

Is a contract of hire for á negro at a stipulated price-to be paid at the end of the year, an open account or a liquidated demand ?

We had supposed that if any thing was settled, this point was. In Nishet and Lawson, we stated the rule to be, that whenever the demand was fixed and certain, either by the agreement of the parties or by operation of law, that it was liquidated, with or without writing. And Mr. Bouvier says: “ Liquidated” is that which is made clear, certain, manifest; as, liquidated damages, ascertained damages; liquidated debt, an ascertained debt, as to amount. A debt is' liquidated when it is certain what is due and how much is due: cum certmn est an et quantum deleátur. Eor although it may appear that something is due, if it does not also appear how much is due, the debt is not liquidated.

An unliquidated claim is one which one of the parties to the contract cannot alone render certain. (2 Bouvier’s-Lctw Dictionary, 86.) .

We despair of ever stating the rule with more perspicuity than we have already done, and are clear that the plaintiff ,was entitled to interest.