Raborg v. Bank of Columbia
Raborg v. Bank of Columbia
Opinion
June, 1827.
W drew a promissory note, which did not bear date at any particular placed but was made negotiable at the plaintiffs’ batik: it was in favour of CR & Son, or order, and by the defendant, in their name, specially endorsed to the plaintiffs, whose bank was at G Not being paid at maturity, ora the day after the third day of grace, it was presented to an agent of W at the said bank, appointed for the purpose of attending to the payment er renewal of W’s notes held by the plaintiffs for payment, which being X'efused, notice of its dishonour was put into the post office at G. directed to C R, (the defendant,) at 1?, where he lived. W, when the note became due, lived at P G. It appeared that it was the custom at G, to demand payment of notes on the fourth clay after they became due__Held, that the defendant was liable on Ins endorsement to the plaintiffs.
Where the appellate court had reversed a judgment and awarded a procedendo, and it afterwards, during the same term, appeared that there was a material mistake in the record upon which they acted, they struck out the judgment, &c. and ordered a writ of diminution f note. J
At the trial the plaintiffs offered in evidence the following promissory note, which was admitted to be drawn by Jacob Wagner, and endorsed by Christopher Baborg, the defendant, by the name of Christopher Baborg fy Soil:
Sixty days after date, I promise to pay Messrs. C. Baborg fy Son, or order, fifteen hundred dollars, for value rec’d, negotiable at the Bank of Columbia. Jacob Wagner.
contended, that the judgment ought to be reversed.
1. Because the judgment could, if at all, have been against the defendant, only as a surviving partner, agreeably to the writ.
2. Because the declaration does not aver the partnership of the Christopher JRaborgs, or the survivorship of the defendant.
3. Because upon the form and terms of the prayer the court below were not authorised to direct the jury to find the verdict which they gave.
4. Because, demand of payment of the note was not made in time, and of the proper person, or at the proper place.
On the first and second points, he referred to 1 Chitty's Plead. 294. Cabell vs. Vaughan, 1 Saund. 291, g. (note.) Jell vs. Douglas, 6 Serg. & Lowb. 451. He contended that the defects in the declaration were not cured by the act of 1809, ch. 153, a. 2.
On the third point, he contended, that as there was no proof of partnership, the direction ot the court was too general; they should have given a special direction.
F. S. Key, on the same side.
The validity of the local customs in the District of Columbia has been established both in the supreme court of the United States and in this court. The usage is not contrary to the law of the land. Where this usage of four days of grace prevails, it is to be regarded and sanctioned in the same manner as the usage of three days of grace prevailing in other places. The three days of grace, it has been said, is a sort of indulgence. At common law, the note is due at the end of the time stipulated; but usage has given three days of grace; so that a note for 60 days is a note for 63 days. It is so settled in Renner vs. Bank of Columbia, 9 Wheat. 585. It is a contract to pay on the 63d day. If within the usage of the District of Columbia, it is then 64 days; and the endorser is not liable until the maker makes default, and that is at the end of the 64th day. Here the contract was made with a view to its performance where the four days of grace prevailed. The parties to a contract, no matter where they reside, may make the performance of it where they please. Where then did the parties look to its performance, when they made this contract? No matter where the note was endorsed^
Mayer, in reply.
The responsibility of an endorser is stricti juris. The three days of grace is stipulated by way of indulgence — a forbearance to demand or sue until three days have elapsed after the note is due. To insist on a countervailing usage, it must be shown that the party to be affected by it had a direct knowledge of the existence of such usage. The usage is not to be viewed as a change of the contract. The note, and the contract in pursuance thereof, was that the note was to be paid in this state, and not in the District of Columbia, as no place of payment was designated in the note — the residence of ioth the maker and endorser being in this state. Young vs. Bryan, 6 Wheat. 151. The note being negotiable at the Bank of Columbia, does not necessarily make it payable at that hank; or that it brought home to the endorser knowledge of the special custom of that bank, that demand of payment was Hot to be made until the fourth day after the note became due. The note was not payable at the bank, unless it had been so expressed.
At this term,
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED,
) See the following case of The Bank of Columbia vs. Fitzkugh, where the opinion of the court is given at length on the same question as that raised on the fourth point in this case.
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