Stanley Matthews

“ The law we are in search of, which is to decide upon the nature, interpretation, and validity of the engagement in question, is that which the parties have, either expressly or presumptively, incorporated into their contract as constituting its obligation. ”

“ The circuit court of the United States sitting in the district of Louisiana, in a cause like the present, in which its jurisdiction depends on the citizenship of the parties, adjudicates their rights precisely as would a tribunal of the state, according to the laws of the state ”

“ On the other hand, the application of the law of Louisiana may be considered in two aspects, as the lex fori, the suit having been brought in a court exercising jurisdiction within its territory and administering its laws, and as the lex loci solutionis, the obligation of the bond of indemnity being to place the fund for payment in the hands of the surety, or to repay him the amount of his advance, in the place where he was bound to discharge his own liability. ”

“ A vested right to an existing defense is equally protected, saving only those which are based on informalities not affecting substantial rights, which do not touch the substance of the contract and are not based on equity and justice. ”

“ But in case of contract the foreign law may, by the act and will of the parties, have become part of their agreement, and in enforcing this, the law of the forum may find it necessary to give effect to a foreign law, which, without such adoption, would have no force beyond its own territory. ”

“ In a suit in Connecticut against the indorser on a note made and indorsed in New York, it was held that parol evidence of a special agreement, different from that imputed by law, would be received in defense, although by the law of the latter state no agreement different from that which the law implies from a blank indorsement could be proved by parol. ”

“ It is claimed on behalf of the plaintiff in error that by the law of Louisiana the pre-existing liability of Pritchard as surety for the railroad company would be a valid consideration to support the promise of indemnity, notwithstanding Pritchard's liability had been incurred without any previous request from the defendant below. This claim is not controverted, and is fully supported by the citations from the Civil Code of Louisiana of 1870, arts. 1893-1960, and the decisions of the supreme court of that state. Flood v. Thomas, 5 Martin, (N. S.) 562; N. O. Gas Co. ”

“ Guibert, L. R. 1 Q. B. 120, in the court of exchequer chamber, it was said that 'it is necessary to consider by what general law the parties intended that the transaction should be governed, or, rather, by what general law it is just to presume that they have submitted themselves in the matter.' Le Breton v. ”