The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-04-26

Youths' Communion.

A receipt is written acknowledge
ment of the payment of debt. All
business men preserve receipts carefully,
that they may be able to show payment,
if, by any chance, bill is presented the
second time.
A receipt in full will prevent a suit
for the recovery ofall debts except those
by account; but a receipt for the
| payment of an account is not valid un-
less the whole amount of the debt is
paid. If, by agreement, part only is
paid, and a credit in full is given, the
creditor may sue for the balance that
remains unpaid. The receipt so given,
is valid only for the amount actually
paid. This rule of law dates back to
the time of Queen Elizabeth. 1t is a
just rule; for every man who can ought
to pay his debts in full. Some excep-
tons, however, are made where, from
the circumstances of the case, it is just
to modify it.
A receipt in full of an account, of
which the amount is unsettled, is bind
was expected. Disputed accounts may
be settled by part payment, for the
law says that the amount so paid was all
that was actually due.
Part payment of note will release the
debtor, if he takes receipt in full, for
this rule applies only to accounts.
When a creditor receives partial
payment from friend or relation of the
deptor, a receipt in full will be binding
upon him. If he takes goods or mer-
chandise for part of the debt, and gives
receipt in full, he cannot sue for the
remainder for the law says that he
took the goods on speculation, and must
stand to his bargain.
When a creditor takes note for
part of his bill, and gives receipt for
the whole, he can only recover the
amount of the note. Also, part pay
ment made before the account is due,
or in some place other than that in
which it should be paid, it will cancel
the debt, if receipt in full is given.
1t was favorto the creditor to pay him
at that time or place, and his receipt is
binding.
If man is unable to pay his debts in
full and his creditor agrees to take
part in place of the whole, they are
bound by their receipts. The law ia
vors compromises of this nature, since
they prevent lawsuits.
Although this rule sometimes bears
hard on honest men, who are trying to
pay their debts, it is the best that can
| be devised, as it reaches all classes of
men, both the honest and the dishon-
est.
When seal is placed upon receipt
the creditor is not allowed to claim that
only part of the account was paid. The
law regards the seal as decisive evidence
that the whole debt for which the re-
ceipt was given was paid.
In the case of receipts there is curl
osity of the law. 1t is we'll established
that, when a written contract is pro-
| duced in court, it cannot be altered IN
any way by evidence by words OF mouth.
1t must stand or fall by itself. One
would think that a receipt would be
gove1nedd DJ . lhs4z= -nle inasmnch as It
acknowledges in writing the full pay
ment of a debt. This being the case,
how can a creditor come in court and
show, by oral evidence, that though the
receipt acknowledges full payment,
only portion of the bill was really
paid To avoid this difficulty, the
law creates what is called legal fiction.
1t declares that receipt is not, in it.
self contract, though it has most of
the elements of one. It is merely evil
dence of an oral contract, by which the
creditor agreed to take portion of the
debt and release the debtor. There
fore oral evidence of the extent of the
payment may be admitted, for though
written contract cannot be altered by
oral evidence yet the meaning of writ
ten evidence, may be altered by oral
evidence.