Case Name: Robert M. Cary & others vs. John M. Courtenay
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1869-11
Citations: 103 Mass. 316
Docket Number: 
Parties: Robert M. Cary & others vs. John M. Courtenay.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 103
Pages: 316–316

Head Matter:
Robert M. Cary & others vs. John M. Courtenay.
The acceptance, payable here, of a bill of exchange for £100 drawn in England, may be paid at the rate of $4.84 per pound in treasury notes.
Contract on a bill of exchange, dated at London in England July 31,1868, for ¿6100, drawn on the defendant in Boston and accepted by him, payable at a bank in Boston.
The defendant was defaulted in the superior court. The plaintiffs contended that in assessing damages the pound sterling should be estimated at $4.84 in coin, but the court ruled that it should be estimated at $4.84 “ in currency,” and the plaintiffs alleged exceptions.
J. L. Thorndike, for the plaintiffs, cited Bronson v. Rodes, 7 Wallace, 229; Butler v. Horwitz, Ib. 258.
No counsel appeared for the defendant.

Opinion:
Chapman, C. J.
The value of the pound sterling is four dollars and eighty-four cents. Commonwealth v. Haupt, 10 Allen, 38, 47. The defendant, by his acceptance of the draft, payable in Boston, became liable to pay one hundred pounds, or four hundred and eighty-four dollars. Neither the fact that the bill was drawn in London, nor that its amount is expressed in pounds, can be construed as an expression that it is to be paid in coin rather than in treasury notes; so that there is no occasion to discuss the recent decisions of the United States supreme court, which are referred to; for they relate to contracts payable in coin.
Judgment is to be rendered for the sum above mentioned with interest. Exceptions overruled.