The New York herald., 1875-09-01
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.
LETTERS OF CREDTT-DEFINTTIoN OF THE WORD

CATTLE"
WASHINGTON, August 81, 1878
The First National Bank OF Decatur ILL., Plaintiff in
Error VS. the Home Savings Bank Of ST. Louis, Mo-
In Error the Circuit Court the Southern District
OF Illinois Justice Davis delivered the opinion OF the
Court The basis Of the suit letter Of credit Of the
18th of September 1852 addressed by the cashier Of
the plaintiff error to the cashier Of the defendant in
error in the following terms 1--WE beg 70 accredit
with you P. e Frederick Esq, whose drafts ship
ments Of cattle to J. T. Talmage Co. Chicago,
herewith guaranteed to the amount Of 900 for
thirty days from date" The plaintiff in ad-
mits the execution OF the drafts and the
payment of the money but insists there right of
action against It, because tho drafts drawn
shipments of "hogs" instead of ''cattle" The point
made s that 1t only consented TO be bound II cattle
shipped and this being DONE liability at
taches 10 it This defence technical though II be, Is
sufficient TO defeat the action II the condition Of the
guaranty not observed and this renders necessary
q construction Of the instrument Like all other con-
tracts II must receive the construction which is most
probable and natural under the circumstances TO
attain the object which the parties to t had in
temptation IN making it-buying and shipping stock
in St. Louis during the fall and winter Of 1S69-and
the presumption is in the absence Of any evidence the
point that he resided Decatur whore the plaintiff in
error had his place of business at any rate he
known in st. Louis, without either money credit,
and as he could not carry on his business without
responsible banking house in that city. This
done through the letter of credit of the 18th OF Septem
ber The bank 10 which the letter Just quoted
was addressed doubtless thought Its correspondent
trusted in degree 10 the pecuniary responsibility
of Frederick but 1t had no right to suppose that the
letter OF credit given solely this account the
contrary the letter based the idea that shipments
of stock would protect the drafts
The bank nov seeks 70 escape liability not that stock
sufficient to the draft not shipped but that
it different sort of stock named in its letter 1t is
fair 10 presume that an Investment In hogs yielded as
good retnrn investment in CATTLE and If the
signee in Chicago had not failed that trouble would
have arisen AS this consgnee named by il, and with
seeks to throw the loss the St Louis bank
because 1t interpreted the letter to embrace
shipments of hogs well neat cattle.
The question then arises Was this Interpretation
rect That stock OF some kind formed part of the
guaranty is quite PLAIN but is the word catte" this
connection TO be confined TO cattle alone-that is
cattle of the bovine genus? II is often applied but
II Is ''also a collective for domestic quadrupeds
generally, including not only the bovine tribe, but
horses asses mules, sheep, goats and swine "-(Wor-
cester's Dictionary-Cattle) Did the plaintiff In
the word in its narrow and restricted meaning
It's more enlarged and general sense In other words
did II intend TO restrict Frederick TO the dealing
In horned animals alone and 80 confne the
defendant In error to drafts based on this
kind Of stock There apparent motive for doing
so Clearly, security the object TO be attained and
this better attained by leaving Frederick un-
restricted in the choice OF animals send forward 10
market provided they of the kind generally used
for food 1t s well known that the market varies at
reader sale and bring better prices than other kinds
stock and at other times horned animals alone COM
mand the attention Of buyers Every prudent dealer in
stock informs himself OF the state Of the market before
multiplied Of late years For these reasons the judg
ment is affirmed.