Samuel Freeman Miller

“ We do not admit that the parties meant to violate the act of Congress. The act, moreover, did not declare it criminal to buy bounty rights. This case is analogous to cases arising under the Statute of Frauds, which declares contracts of certain kinds void, unless in writing. The contract, though voidable, has never been regarded as criminal.
But quite independently of this, the bill relates to transactions wholly subsequent to and independent of the purchase of the bounty rights. ”

“ Just after the passage of this statute, that is to say, in June, 1847, the complainant, Martin (who was a banker in New Orleans) , Brooks, the defendant, and a certain Field, entered into a partnership at New Orleans; the ostensible object of the firm being 'the purchase and sale of bounty land warrants that may have been or may be issued under the law of Congress,' &c. The purchases and sales were to be conducted by Brooks and Field, and the money was to be furnished by Martin. Brooks was the brother-in-law of Martin, and had been a clerk in his banking-house. Field was a stranger. ”

“ The plaintiff recovered, on the ground that the implied promise of the defendant, arising out of the receipt of the money for the plaintiff, was a new contract, not affected by the illegality of the original transaction. The same principle was applied and enforced in Farmer v. Russell, [9] and in Thomson v. Thomson, [10] by Sir William Grant, as great a judge as ever sat in Chancery.
2. The general position taken on the other side, as to the relations of partners to each other, may be true in some cases. It is not true in all, nor true here. Brooks was not the partner, but the agent of Martin. ”

“ And if they had, by any such means, got possession of the land warrant or scrip of a soldier, no court would have refused, in a proper suit, to compel them to deliver up such land warrant or scrip to the soldier. ”

“ Thompson, J., says: 'It is a first principle, and not to be touched, that a contract, in order to be binding, must be lawful.' Other cases, English and American, show how deep and firm are the foundations of the rule, and how far the rule itself will reach and ramify. [6]
2. Partners, in a case like this, do not stand to each other in the relations of trustee and cestui que trust. All the partners were business men. Martin's business was that of a banker, a pursuit requiring great business intelligence and sharpness. ”

“ Field, the third partner. The record leaves no doubt that he acted throughout in accordance with this agreement.
2. It is abundantly established by the testimony that, within some two or three months after the partnership was formed, the parties closed their operations in New Orleans, after having invested over $50,000, advanced by Martin, in the purchase of soldiers' claims; and that thenceforth very little was done in the way of purchasing claims or warrants. That Brooks then came to Washington to procure the warrants to be issued, and Field went to Wisconsin to seek a market for their sale. ”

“ When the bill in the present case was filed, all the claims of soldiers thus illegally purchased by the partnership, with money advanced by complainant, had been converted into land warrants, and all the warrants had been sold or located. The original defect in the purchase had, in many cases, been cured by the assignment of the warrant by the soldier after its issue. ”