Mahlon Pitney

“ For a court of equity looks to substance rather than to form.
It is hardly necessary to say that the question whether the contract of the principal has been altered so as to discharge the surety is to be decided according to the essentials, in whatever jurisdiction it may be raised. And so we think the court correctly held that the arrangement that was made between the McKimmies and Horton, of reserving the two lots from the conveyance in order to save the expense of a reconveyance, was not a material change in the contract; that it did not alter the position of either Horton or his sureties ”

“ The bond in suit recited the agreement, and was conditioned for its faithful performance by Horton.
The opinion of the court of appeals (36 App. D. C. 336) sets forth the full history of the controversy and the course of the trial. We deem it necessary to mention only one of several matters that were discussed in argument before us, and that is, the contention that the plaintiffs in error were discharged from responsibility as sureties because of the fact that by arrangement made between the Messrs. ”

“ Read v. Bowman, 2 Wall. 591, 603, 17 L. ed. 812, 816; Reese v. United States, 9 Wall. 13, 21, 19 L. ed. 541, 544; Cross v. Allen, 141 U.S. 528, 537, 35 L. ed. 843, 849, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 67.
Judgment affirmed. ”