Case Name: Theodore Gaillard, Executor of John Gaillard, ads. E. Ball
Court: Constitutional Court of South Carolina
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1818-01
Citations: 1 Nott & McC. 67
Docket Number: 
Parties: *Theodore Gaillard, Executor of John Gaillard, ads. E. Ball.
Judges: Colcock and Johnson, JJ., concurred.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 10
Pages: 40–41

Head Matter:
*Theodore Gaillard, Executor of John Gaillard, ads. E. Ball.
Where a person has entered into a bond, conditioned for the payment of four per cent, interest on certain legacies, till the legatees came of age, and as each legatee came of age, to pay Mm his proportion of the principal, the legatees are entitled to seven per cent. (i. e. the legal interest of this State,) from the time the principal became due.
Where an action is brought on a bond made in a foreign country, and payable there, the interest of that country, and not the interest of the country in which the action is brought, is recoverable,
The defendant’s testator had g-iven a bond, in the penalty of three thousand pounds sterling, with a condition to pay four per cent, interest on certain legacies, until the legatees therein mentioned, respectively arrived at the age of twenty-one years ; and as each one came of age, to pay him his proportion of the principal, being, in the whole, fifteen hundred pounds sterling.
The case was tried in May Term, 1815, before Mr. Justice Nott.
'I he ouly question submitted to the Court was, whether the plaintiff was entitled to receive seven per cent., being the legal interest of this State, from the time the principal became due; or whether he was still entitled, only, to four per cent., according to the original stipulation.
The presiding Judge being of opinion that he was entitled to seven per cent., instructed the jury to that effect, who found accordingly.
A motion was now made for a new trial, on the ground of misdirection.
Palmer vs. Trevor, 1 Ver. 262; Hearle vs. Greenbank, 3 Atk. 716; Cricket vs. Dolby, 3 Ves. Jun. 10; Dawes vs. Swan, 4 Mass. T. R. 208; Van Bramer vs. Hoffman's Executors, 2 John. Cas. 200; and see Mr. Day’s Note to Alkins vs. Wheeler, 2 N. R. 205, where all the authorities are collected.
Robinson vs. Bland, 1 Black. Rep. 256; Thompson vs. Ketcham, 4 John Rep. 288; and as to lex loci generally, see the cases cited in the note to Touro vs. Cassin, post, 173. R.

Opinion:
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Nott, J.
The penalty is the obligatory part of a bond. The condition is in the nature of a defeasance, by the performance of which, the obligor is relieved from the payment of the penalty. By a non-performance of the condition, the penalty is forfeited, and at common law became the true debt. A Court of Equity only could *give relief against the penalty; and that only upon condition, that the party would pay up the whole amount of principal and interest. , By the statute of 4 Ann, c. 16, P. L. 95, Courts of Law may now order satisfaction of the debt to be entered up upon the payment of the principal, interest, and costs. But it must be legal interest.
Geddes and Lance, for the motion. Gadsden, contra.
The defendant's testator stipulated to pay four per cent up to a given time; and then to pay the principal. His contract to pay four per cent. ended at that time, and his privilege to pay no more, ended with it.
A person is always bound to pay legal interest, except where there is an agreement to take less. In this case the plaintiff did not agree to take less, any longer than until the principal became due. The law, which the parties had made for themselves, having ended at that time, the contract was governed by the law of the land afterwards. • -
A new trial, therefore, cannot be granted on that ground.
But another ground has been taken, in the course of the argument, which did not appear in the Court below. The bond was executed in East Florida, and is made payable there. The defendant, therefore, is only bound to pay the interest of that place ; and as it does not appear what that interest is, or was at that time, a new trial must be granted to ascertain that fact.
Colcock and Johnson, JJ., concurred.
2 Stat. 435, $13. Not in its proper place.