Smith v. Keels
Smith v. Keels
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This Court is of opinion that the matter set up in defence in this case could, under no form of pleading, avail against the plaintiff’s action. It is, of course, not claimed that it constituted payment, for the Confederate bonds were not delivered by the defendant’s agent, much less accepted by the plaintiff. It need scarcely be said that it did not constitute a tender of payment, so as, upon bringing the rejected tender into Court at the trial, to arrest the interest and avoid costs, for a tender could only be in money, in the proper amount due, and without conditions annexed to its acceptance. (Wistar, Siter & Price vs. Robinson, 2 Bail, 274.) It was not accord and satisfaction, because the agreement was not executed by the defendant, and it was the performance, not the promise that was to be the satisfaction. Here there was not even an offer on the defendant’s part to execute the agreement, according to its terms. The plaintiff’s promise was to receive payment of the amount due him in Confederate bonds. The defendant offering bonds amounting in the aggregate to a sum exceeding the debt, made it a condition of delivering the bonds, that the plaintiff should pay him the difference in money, and, this being refused as no part of the original agreement, the accord failed to result in satisfaction, through the defendant’s fault. It is equally clear that it could not avail by way of discount or cross-action. For, so far as appears from the evidence, the
The plaintiff having established by proof his cause of action, was entitled to recover, and so the jury found. Nothing in bar or abatement of his demand having been made out in defence, he was, of course, entitled as of right to recover according to the terms of the promissory note sued on. The payment of the legal interest on the principal sum from the date of the note until full satisfaction made, was as much a part of those terms by express stipulation as the payment of the principal sum itself, and the jury were not at liberty to distinguish between them, or to
The motion for a new trial is dismissed.
Motion dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.