Case Name: William Russell, plaintiff, vs. James H. Lucas, defendant
Court: Superior Court of the Territory of Arkansas
Jurisdiction: Arkansas
Decision Date: 1830-07
Citations: 1 Ark. Terr. Rep. 91
Docket Number: 
Parties: William Russell, plaintiff, vs. James H. Lucas, defendant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the United States Superior Court for the Territory of Arkansas, from 1820 to 1836
Volume: 1
Pages: 91–91

Head Matter:
William Russell, plaintiff, vs. James H. Lucas, defendant.
1. Payments should be applied to extinguish the interest, and then the principal.
2. Proper mode of computing interest stated.
July, 1830.
— Scire facias to revive judgment, before Benjamin Johnson, Thomas P. Eskridge, and Edward Cross, judges.

Opinion:
Opinion oe the Court. — The only question to be decided, is as to the mode of calculating interest.
We are of opinion that the correct mode of easting interest when partial payments have been made, is to apply the payment in the first place to the discharge of the interest then due, and if the payment exceeds the interest, the surplus goes towards discharging the principal, and the subsequent interest is to be computed on the balance of principal unpaid. If the payment be less than the interest, the surplus interest must not be taken to augment the principal, but interest continues on the principal until the period when the payments taken together exceed the interest due, and then the surplus is to be applied towards discharging the principal, and the interest is to be computed on the balance of principal as above stated. 1 Dallas, 124; 1 Halsted, 408; 2 Wash. C. C. R. 168; 5 Cowen, 331. Judgment for plaintiff.