The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-04-15

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With all that Is said year in and year out
on the subject Of Wall street gambling and
Of the knavery that is popularity supposed to
be the great attribute of all men in that
centre of financial activity it is remarkable
how seldom, on the whole, the bargains
made there come into court; how seldom the
losers compel resort to the law by their re-
fusal to pay. Yet, as now decided, all the
bargains of Wall street rest strictly on the
honor of the men who make them. Except
as to those inconsiderable transactions in
which brok ers purchase for their customers
ION a Margin" losers in Wall street are
under no other obligation to pay than that
of regard for their credit, their standing
among their fellows, their pride--in short.
their honor. Millions in value are bought
and sold, hour by hour, and one man gives.
another q loose memorandum of the trans
action-a paper without legal value-yet
scarcely any one shirks his responsibility.
Fortunes are lost in q moment; ruin i'm
ponds and may be averted by the mere re-
pudiation of the memorandum; yet it is the
rarest of facts for such Reputation to
bring the parties into court. In the case of
Taylor against Jay Gould, Taylor is nom
suited on the ground substantially that his
contract has the defect common to Wall
street contracts that it did not meet the re-
quirements of the law and is therefore void.
1t was doubtless thought that the Court
might contemplate this case from that gen.
eral standpoint of the law of contract which
takes into consideration the usages peculiar
to certain trades. In Wall street, for in
stance, where five minutes may be worth a
million, the economy of time has been
pushed to the utmost conceivable point
Should men stop to put in superfuous words,
or to sign their names, they would lose great
opportunities and as men reduce the form
of their papers under pressure like this
they push to an extreme degree their views
as to what words are superfluous or may
safely be dispensed with. They eventually,
therefore, leave out what is necessary to
make their memoranda legal contracts but
as it is done by consent and for mutual con-
venience no one takes advantage Of the pos.
sibilities till there comes some person quite
unlike other men in his views of honorable
obligation. In the theories of the common
law this view of the usages Of Wall street
would be of some value in the enforcement
of such a contract, but the statute bars the
way to its application in our courts. The
words Of the statute are EVERY contract
for the sale of any goods. chattels or things
in action, for the price of fifty dollars or
more, shall be void unless note or memo
randum of such contract be made in writing,
and be subscribed by the parties to be
charged thereby" In every sale where part
of the money is not paid down, or part of
the goods are not delivered, q memorandum
meeting this description must be middle, or
the courts will not recognize the TRANSACT
ton. 1t is doubtful, however, whether Wall
street will change it's habits, or whether it
will go on as usual, and simply ignore o
difficulty that can only arise on exceptional
occasions.