Case Name: J. H. Lange, Assignee, vs. Frederick Kohne
Court: Constitutional Court of South Carolina
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1821-01
Citations: 1 McCord 115
Docket Number: 
Parties: J. H. Lange, Assignee, vs. Frederick Kohne.
Judges: Justices Nott, Colcock, Gantt, Richards (maná Bay, concurred.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 12
Pages: 115–116

Head Matter:
J. H. Lange, Assignee, vs. Frederick Kohne.
At common law, no chose in action is assignable; and the statute of Ann, and our Act, making notes payable in money assignable, do not include notes payable in paper medium. And a verdict obtained by an assignee will be arrested.
Paper medium is not money; for by the 8th and 10th sections of the Constitution of the United States, Congress alone has the right to coin money; and no state can coin money, emit bills of credit, or make .any thing but gold and silver coin a tender. —
ThIS was an action brought on a due bill, of which the following is a copy:
“ Due Mr. John Geyer one hundred pounds, paper me* dium.
“28th September, 1793.
“ For Frederick Kohne,
“ Peter Patterson.”
The plaintiff claimed as assignee of John Geyer, who made the assignment for the benefit of his creditors. John^ Geyer, the insolvent debtor, was the chief witness; and the general tenor of his testimony, was to prove that the money had been borrowed by Patterson, who was a cqnfi" dential clerk of Koline's, for the use of Kohne,
To account for the due bill remaining so long unpaid, the defendant produced no evidence, but relied upon the presumption of payment arising from the lapse of time.
The presiding Judge charged in favor of the defendant} but the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount qf the due bill, without interest.
A motion in' arrest of judgment, and for a new trial, was now made upon several grounds,
As to what coin is a tender, see the very able and concise opinion of Judge Huger, in M'Clarin vs. Nesbit, 2 Nott & M'Cord’s Rep. 519; where accidentally the name of the judge who delivered the opinion of the Court is omitted. R.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Huger
delivered the opinion of the Court.
It is unnecessary to notice the different grounds for a ney trial in this case, as the motion in arrest of judgment must prevail. At common law, a chose in action is not assignable. By the statute of Ann and our act, notes, &c, payable in money, are assignable. The note in que-Mou, however, is not payable in money, but in paper medium.-— That paper medium is not money, appears from the 8th and'10th sections of the Constitution of the United States, which declare that Congress shall coin money; and that no state shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. But the act creating a paper medium, does not pretend to give it the character of money, it only makes it a tender at the treasury.
The motion in arrest of judgment must therefore be granted.
Justices Nott, Colcock, Gantt, Richards (maná Bay, concurred.