Scott v. Morris
Scott v. Morris
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This cause comes before üs bn a case stated to which I refer.
The trust, in the deed of assignment, under which the plaintiffs claim, is, that the defendants will in the first place, pay to the creditors of the first class (to which the plaintiffs belong) “ the amount of their respective demands in full.” The word demand is very comprehensive. It includes every thing which the creditors would have ,been entitled to recover by suit. And there is no doubt, that interest might have been recovered, as well as principal. . Consider the nature of the debts to which the first class was restricted; “debts due for money lent to Humphreys and. Carter, or by reason of the indorsement of their promissory notes, or by a loan, or exchange of notes, for their accommodation. ” In all these cases the creditor would have had to pay his own money for the benefit of Humphreys and Carter, and nothing can be more reasonable than to allow .him interest, from the time of payment. Consider also, what is to become of the surplus in the hands of thb assignees, after the payment of all demands. It is to go to Humph-reys and Carter. ' Now surely, it could not have been intended, that the creditors should lose their interest, and the debtor' put. the' money in his pocket. It does not appear, in the state of the case, of what the fund in the hands of the" defendants consisted. But it"is hardly possible, that it should have been altogether a dead fund. Probably it consisted, in part at least, of outstanding debts, which would carry interest. And if so, it would make the injustice of the debtor’s pocketing the surplus, the more glaring. There is not a perfect analogy between the case before us and that of commissioners of Bankrupt. For, although the statutes of bankruptcy, may not contain any express provisions respecting the payment of in
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SCOTT and others against MORRIS and another, assignees of HUMPHREYS and another
- Status
- Published