Samuel Freeman Miller

“ This remedy has been very much extended in equity where the insolvency of the judgment plaintiff, his non-residence within the jurisdiction of the court, the fact that the mutual obligations have grown out of the same transaction, and many other purely equitable considerations, have been held to authorize the setting off of many classes of obligations held by the defendant, against a judgment duly recovered against him in a court of law. ”

“ It will be thus seen that, independent of statutes, the courts have long exercised the power of extinguishing judgments by compelling the plaintiff to receive something else than money in satisfaction thereof. ”

“ And this is true whether the contract be express or implied, and whether it exist in parol, or in a promissory note, or in a judgment. Notwithstanding this general rule, it is a principle of long standing in all systems of jurisprudence that one debt or obligation may be set off or counterbalanced against another, so that while the obligation of both is recognized, both are satisfied in law and discharged without the payment of any money on either ”

“ His closing remarks are very pertinent to the case in hand. 'The general equity and reasonableness,' says he, 'of the principles upon which the Roman superstructure is founded make it a matter of regret that they have not been transferred to their full extent to our system of equity jurisprudence. ”