Morrison Waite

“ No obligation to collect was in terms put on the bank by the writing. On the contrary, the only power conferred on the bank in reference to the judgment was to sell if the notes were not paid at maturity, or at the maturity of their renewals. All parties seem to have contemplated delay in the collection, and Bast seems also to have been especially careful to retain in his own hands the power to withhold execution if he saw fit. ”

“ There was no legal impediment in the way of an immediate issue of execution on the judgment, and until May 19, 1876, the Iron and Coal Company, the judgment defendant, had unincumbered personal property subject to levy and sale on execution sufficient to pay the amount that was due. No execution was issued until June 19, and before that time the property of the company had all been exhausted by the prior levy of executions issued on other judgments. Bast made no demand on the bank to issue execution on his judgment at any time before June 19. ”

“ Any attempt to do so before the maturity of the notes, without his consent, would be a direct violation of the terms of the instrument under which it acquired all its rights.
2. As to the parol evidence.
No principle of evidence is better settled at the common law than that when persons put their contracts in writing, it is, in the absence of fraud, accident, or mistake, 'conclusively presumed that the whole engagement, and the extent and manner of their undertaking, was reduced to writing.' 1 Greenl. ”