John McKinley

“ If the testatrix had no knowledge of the existence of usury in the contract between the defendant and Alexander, the bond which she gave to the defendant, although without valuable consideration, was not usurious. There must be a loan, and the taking of more than legal interest, or the forbearance of payment of a pre-existing debt, upon a contract for illegal interest, to constitute usury. Barclay vs. Walmsley, 4 East, 57. The fact of knowledge, in the plaintiff's testatrix, is very material ”

“ No man is bound to take advantage of a penal law, and avoid a contract which it equity he ought to perform; and nothing could excuse the defendant, but his giving express notice to the plaintiff that he, the defendant, did not mean to pay the note.'
The present is a much stronger case for the plaintiffs than the one just quoted. The defendant, as before stated, knew all the facts of the case; she had paid, at different times, parts of the debt; nearly five years had elapsed from the date of the contract till its final payment ”

“ While these negotiations were pending, the testatrix addressed a letter to Alexander, dated the 25th of November, 1828, in which she stated that her niece, the defendant, had informed her that she intended selling and assigning to him the bond of the testatrix for $2880, payable on demand, and proposing, if he would give her time for the payment of the money, she would give a deed of trust upon her land and negroes, to secure its payment. ”