Case Name: The State, ex rel., John M. Greer, administrator, etc., plaintiff in error, vs. Moses Speer, treasurer, defendant in error
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1864-03
Citations: 33 Ga. Supp. 93
Docket Number: 
Parties: The State, ex rel., John M. Greer, administrator, etc., plaintiff in error, vs. Moses Speer, treasurer, defendant in error.
Judges: 
Reporter: Georgia Reports
Volume: 33 Suppl.
Pages: 93–95

Head Matter:
The State, ex rel., John M. Greer, administrator, etc., plaintiff in error, vs. Moses Speer, treasurer, defendant in error.
Orders absolute given by the Inferior Courts of the several counties in this State for the payment of money to other persons in liquidation of debts due by said Courts, draw interest just as other liquidated demands do.
Manda/nms, in Sumter Superior Court. Decided by Judge Richard H. Clark, at April Term, 1863.
The facts of this case are as follows, to-wit: On the 21st day of January 1861, the Inferior Court of Sumter county passed an order in due form, in which it was recited, that “It appearing to the Court that James Wicker built a bridge across Camp creek, at and for the price of one dollar and forty-five cents per foot, under contract with the Inferior Court of said county, and that said bridge is three hundred and fifty feet long, and that said work and materials are worth the sum of §507 50. It is therefore, ordered by the Court, that the treasurer of said county of Sumter, pay James Wicker, $507 50, out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated.” The order was duly entered on the minutes of the Court as required by law.
On the day the order bears date Wicker presented it to the treasurer and received the sum of $200 00 as part payment thereof, and afterwards for a valuable consideration sold and assigned the order to Robert Carver. Carver died, and John M. Greer administered on his estate. Carver in his lifetime, and Greer since his death, presented the order to Speer, the county treasurer of said county, and demanded payment of the principal and interest due on the order, and payment was refused.
Greer then filed his petition for a mandamus nisi, which was granted, and upon the hearing the presiding Judge refused to make said mandamus absolute, on the ground that said county of Sumter was not liable to pay interest upon said order.
The writ of error in this case is brought and prosecuted to reverse that decision of the Judge.
Samuel Hall, for plaintiff in error.
H. K. McCay, contra.

Opinion:
By the Court
Lyon, J.,
delivering the opinion.
Do the orders absolute of the Inferior Courts of the several counties of this State, for the payment of money to other persons given in liquidation of debts due by such Courts draw interest? That is the only question made in this record. Ws think that they do, and that the plaintiff was entitled to his rule nisi for mandamus against the treasurer for its payment.
By the laws of this Stale all liquidated demands, that is, those where the sum is fixed, ascertained and agreed to be paid, bear interest at the rate of seven per centum per annum: Cobb's Dig., 393, 495; Code, sec. 2029; Smith vs. Ellington, 14 Ga., 379; Hargroves vs. Cook, 15 Ga., 321. To this rule there is no exception in favor of the Inferior Courts, or any reason why there should be.
Let the judgment be " reversed on the ground that the Court below erred in holding that the Inferior Court was not liable to pay interest on the order, which was the subject of controversy. The Court below should have made the rule nisi for mandamus, absolute."