Schuehardt v. Thornton

6 D.C. 294

• Court: District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• Decided: June 10, 1868
• Docket: No. 2,815
• Status: Published

Opinion

Mr. Ctiiee Justice Cartter

delivered the opinion of the Court:

The bill must be held at its value in London at the time it was presented. Where parties contract with each other on a gold standard, and with a view to the price of gold, they should be held to respond in gold. No principle of the law merchant is better settled than that a bill of exchange shall be paid at its value at the place of payment. To say that when this bill, which was drawn with a view to its payment in gold, came back to this country it might be paid in a currency worth forty per cent, less than gold would be to set aside the contract of the parties.

Mr. Justice Olin said:

This bill of exchange was an article of merchandise, and certainly it could not be bought at $4.44 per pound sterling. The error below was in regarding this as a mere money transaction, when in fact it was the purchase of a merchantable article.

Verdict and judgment set aside and new trial granted.

Mr. Justice Wylie dissented.