State Ex Rel. Cox v. Peebles

70 N.C. 10

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: January 5, 1874
• Status: Published

Opinion

Settle, J.

Should a guardian who paid the taxes on the estate of his ward during the war, out of his (the guardian’s) own Confederate money, be allowed in a settlement with his ward the full amount of such payments, or should they be scaled to the value of the Confederate, money so paid \ Had the gnardian received in good faith Confederate money for his ward before it became so depreciated as to amount to notice, that it would not be received, he would have been liable only for the value of the Confederate money at the time of its receipt. With this principle another goes hand in hand, to-wit; that where the guardian used his own Confederate money in the payment of debts against his ward, he should be allowed only the value of such money. To hold otherwise would violate, the fundamental principle that aguardian shall not be allowed to speculate upon the estate of his ward. .

Hood faith requires that any profit which flows from a transaction of the guardian, in respect to the ward’s estate, must be for the benefit of the ward, and not for. the guardian.

The spirit of our decision is, that Confederate money taken in good faith should be received at its scaled value in all fiduciary transactions, and indeed in all transaetions.exeept where the parties dealt directly with each other and at arms’ length; as for instance, where a debtor tenders and a creditor receives Confederate money in payment of a debt, each dealing suojure„ In such case we have held that the payment amounts to a discharge of the debt.

The judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed.

Pee CubxaM. Judgment affirmed.