Gage v. McSweeney

52 A. 969, 74 Vt. 370, 1902 Vt. LEXIS 144
Supreme Court of Vermont·Decided August 21, 1902·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Watson, J.

At the time of giving the note in question, the maker resided at Barre, in this state, and the payee, in the [372] state of New Jersey. Since that time, the maker’s residence has remained the same. The payee’s residence remained the same until about three years ago, when she removed to Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, where she has since resided. The debt was contracted at Barre, and the note was there executed and delivered. It is dated at Barre, but it has no specified place of payment. Where was the place of payment in law, is one of the questions before us.

Since the residence of the maker, the place of contracting the debt, and of the execution and delivery of the note were at Barre, we think by intendment the note was payable there. This seems to be in accordance with the settled principles of law in this state. In Baylies v. Trustees of Houghton & Company, 15 Vt. 626, the question was whether certain promissory notes were subject to trustee process in this state, where the trustee and maker resided. The payee and principal, defendant resided at Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, where the notes, containing no specified place of payment, were executed and delivered. It was held that by intendment the notes were payable in Boston, and that, as they were not liable to trustee process there, they were not here. In Peck v. Hibbard, 26 Vt. 698, 62 Am. Dec. 605, the note was executed and delivered in the Province of Canada, where the maker and payee resided, but it had no named place of payment. It was presented to and allowed by the provincial court in bankruptcy proceedings against the maker. After being thus allowed and before the maker’s final discharge, the note, overdue, was transferred in this state for a valuable consideration to' the plaintiff, a citizen and resident here, who had no knowledge of the bankruptcy proceedings. The maker’s ' discharge was pleaded in bar. It was held that the note must be regarded as payable in the Province of Canada, the same as if a particular place of payment there had been .designated in the body of the [373] note, and that the discharge was a good defense. In Worden v. Nourse and Trustee, 36 Vt. 756, the question, as far as the case is important here, was, whether one of the trustees should be held chargeable upon a certain promissory note. The maker resided in this state, the note was given here for a debt here contracted. The payees and principal defendants, at the date of the note and ever after, resided in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, and there negotiated the note before maturity to the claimant in the suit who gave no notice thereof to the trustee before the service of the writ. The liability of' the debt to trustee process depended upon whether its situs was here or in Massachusetts. In discussing the question, the court said that the place of the execution of the note alone ought not to be decisive ; that it was to be considered in connection with the other elements in determining the place of payment which the parties had in contemplation, and which go to show the situs of the debt. The situs was held to be in this state. In respect to this question, the case is parallel with the case at bar and decisive of it.

The oratrix contends that a note payable generally is by the nature of the contract payable anywhere, and, in support of this proposition, she cites Braynard v. Marshall, 8 Pick. 174; but that case was discussed by this court in Peck v. Hibbard, above cited, and by a quotation from Mr. Justice Story, it is shown to contain a doctrine that “has never been propounded in any common, law authority, nor ever supported by the opinion of any foreign jurist.”

Under the common law of England, when a contract for the payment of money contains no specified place of payment, the debtor must seek out the creditor and pay him. Walton v. Mascall, 13 M. & W. 452, 4 Eng. Rul. Cas. 483. But this rule always had its limitation that if the creditor be out of the realm of England, the debtor was not bound to seek him or to go out [374] of the realm to tender the money. Co. Litt. 210; Bacon’s Abr. Tit. Tender. In this country the States of the Union are foreign countries with respect to one another, regarding bills of exchange, — Buckner v. Finley, 2 Pet. 587, — and a debtor is not obliged to go. into another state to tender the money on such a contract to save a forfeiture. If the creditor is out of the state, this dispenses with the tender, and no rights are lost to the debtor by his inability to make it. Smith v. Smith, 25 Wend. 405; Hale v. Patton, 60 N. Y. 233, 19 Am. Rep. 168; Allshouse v. Ramsay, 6 Wharton, 331, 37 Am. Dec. 417; Littell v. Nichol’s Admrs., Hardin, 66; Gill v. Bradley, 21 Minn. 15.

In the case at bar, the note by its terms did not draw interest after maturity, October 14, 1900. It would be on interest thereafter only by way of compensation in damages, because the maker was legally in default. Abbott v. Wilmot, 22 Vt. 437; Hauxhurst v. Hovey, 26 Vt. 544. Yet it is the general rule in this state that interest is allowed after the debt is due, without any express contract therefor, unless there appears to be some special reason for withholding it. Summer, Admr. v. Beebe, 37 Vt. 562.

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Gage v. McSweeney, 52 A. 969, 74 Vt. 370, 1902 Vt. LEXIS 144 (Vt. 1902).

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