The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1867-02-07

since Deen IolluWeu IN England ana in this
| country. 5 = 3
Not to cite the almost numberless cases. In this
country in which II has been sanctioned We viii
| refer only to the language Of Oh. Kent, in Mann
VS.. Mann's exors., list John, Oh. II. 23 who saws
That term /" moneys extends 60 bank notes,
when they are known and approved Of, and
| used in the market as CASH. s
> But 1t may be said, that the rule cannot APP.
ply to depreciated government or bank bills,
Which are not equivalent to gold or silver In
/ the market, though they may pass as the circu-
| lating medium, because they are not the true
representatives, in value of gold and silver, al
| the time, and are not redeemable al par This
| objection. though plausible, Is not sound.
The main reason why such notes are consid-
| cred money, is that, by common consent, they
pass from hand to hand as the Representatives
| Of value. They are promises to pay value,
| which for public convenience, are received by
| the community on the faith that the promisor
| will be able to pay the sum promised. and that
| 1t will ultimately be paid. They are not the
less the circulating medium and substituted for
value, because they are deprecated when COM
pared with gold or silver; for they may pass
and answer all the purposes of q medium
of exchange, notwithstanding they are
known to be of less value at the time, than
gold and silver coin. In such circumstances
their real yalueis still governed, in this eoun-
try, by the standard of gold and silver, because
he Constitution of the United States, which
recognizes nothing as legal tender for the
payments of debts but gold and silver, always
subjects their real value TO that test Still they
constitute the circulating medium of the eoun-
try. For the most part, however, though they
pass at their nominal value, yet property pur-
chased with them or exchanged for them, in
the course of trade, Is obtained at price en-
HANGED to the extent of the depreciation; so that
the price at which the article is purchased, and
at which. the money passes, is really the same
In value as if gold or silver were the medium
Of exchange. Thus, Il horse could be pur-
chased for one hundred dollars in gold or silver,
but that ceases to be the general circulating
medium, and bank paper takes its place, which
is deprecated fifty per cent. below gold or sill
yer. the same horse cannot be bought for less
| than two hundred dollars ia the circulating
medium. The horse is really worth no more at
| one price than at the Other, one hundred dol
lars. which is the real value of the bank paper
| for which he is purchased. But yet the bank
paper is as much a circulating medium and
| representative of value, as the gold or silver.
The only difference is, that the article is sold
for a higher nominal price in one currency than
| in the other; but they are both the currency at
| the respective times, and therefore money,
| whose real value is to be asceftained by the
| test of the lega1 standard.
The same principle would apply If cotton,
! tobacco or any other commodity of intrinsic
| value were treated as the circulating medium;
| for suth articles would be governed, i'll value,
| according to the law of demand and supply
/ If they were scarce, ut any particular time,
| and other articles to be purchased with them
| were abundant the market value of that cir
| culating medium would be high; andif the
| relative values were reversed by the same
cause the respective values would change ae-
| cordingly. This is every days experience;
and, indeed, the same principle also affects the
| market value of gold and silver, as was shown
| n few years ago by the great increase of gold
| from California and other parts.
| What shall be money is conventional, and is
| chiefly governed by natural and artificial
| causes proceeding from the state of trade and
| of commerce. BY reason of natural causes, or
| of eXigencies of a country, or OF oyeraction
| In trade, the circulating medium may, from
necessity. be mostly in paper currency to the
almost if not entire, exclusion of gold orsilver,
and, of course, deprecated below that standard.
This has been frequently eXemplified at several
periods in the history of the United States,
when the entire domestic business of the coun-
try has been transacted IN bank paper issued
by the authority of the States or of the Federal
Government, when gold and silver, as q general
circulating medium, had become utterlyim-
practicable, and when nearly every substantial
interest in the country would have been de-
stroyed if bank paper had not been adopted as
the circulating medium. To say that in such
circ,lms stances, the rights of parties growing
out of, and founded on, the prevailing currency
of the country, were not to be considered as
having been conducted for money, would be to
take very narrow view of the true principles
affecting currency, to sanction gross injustice,
and to ruin all the important interests that had
accrued from the necessities of the business 6f
the country. >s92xaJaS
y Il De rue that deprecated paper currency
is not to be considered as money, then the
amount of depreciation does not affect its char
acter, and the smallest rate Of discount would
deprive it of the character of money. Let us
observe the practical effect of this:
In the best state of currency i'll the United
States, some six years ago, the notes of specie
paying banks in the Southern and Western
States were appreciated in New York to the
extent of the2eost of exchange between that
city and the place where the particular bank
was located, say Nashville or New Orleans
Suppose a merchant in New York had received
for his customer in Nashville a sum of money
in the notes of one of the Nashville banks, then
at par there, but at discount OF from one TO
five per cent. in New York, and had failed to
pay it, without justification, until the close OF
the war, when the bank proved to be insolyent:
could it be said, for q moment, that the mer-
chant in New York had not received money,
and that the customer could not recover the
value of the notes in New York at the time, as
money had and received? Certainly not. And
the same principle appears to apply when the
depreciation is great, provided the funds re-
ceived were current as the ordinary circulating
medium at the time they were received or when
default was made. If this be not true, no pa
per currency can have the character in law of
money. unless it be convertible into gold or
silver at the time, and especially If it be at a
considerable discount, however universally it
may be the medium of all the peeuniary bust
ness of the country, and however constituting
the necessity which. caused its adoption as
such.
The present condition of the currency fur
nishes forcible illustration of the subject
The United States Treasury notes, and National
Bank currency, are at discount of near fifty
per cent. below gold or silver, and have been
more than two hundred per cent. below par
during the war and they are not redeemed at
par in gold or silver. Yet they pass generally
as the circulating medium; and can there be
doubt that person receiving such funds for
another would be liable for the value of the
notes in gold or silver, as for money had and
received? .sN@
But this can scarcely be considered an open
question in this court. For several years after
the financial explosion of 1887, the currency of
this State consisted almost entirely of our own
bank notes, which were greatly depre eiatet.--
During that period, the largest portion OF our
business transactions was conducted by means
zof this deprecated bank paper, and, in many
instances, notes were executed for money
to be paid in the notes Of those banke. In
some of these instances suits were brought as
on proDaiss0Yy notes, and the actions were
maintained in this court, which could not have
been the case il the notes sued on had not been
considered as for the payment OF money. 8
B0nnell VS.. CoVington was an action of
ossanapsit en- q note payable Sin the notes of
either Of the banks of Natchez, or of the Onion
it was held that the plaintiff was entitled to
recover the value of the Bank notes at the ma
turity of the note. Z How, 322. OF the same
character as Abbott vs.. AgTic. Bank, II s. d lb,
405.a In these cases the objection does not APP
pear to have been directly raised, that the de-
spreeiated notes were not money, and that,
Therefore the paper sued on was not promis-
sorry note. But that point was distinctly made
and argued in flle case of Gordon vs.. Parker
S.. 81 NJ, 485, and Scott VS.. HambIin, 3 ib., 235s