Stephen Johnson Field

“ In the light of these facts, it seems hardly less than absurd to say that these dollars must be regarded as identical in kind and value with the dollars which constitute the money of the United States. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that they were essentially different in both respects.'
The ordinance of the convention of North Carolina of October, 1865, establishes, as a presumption of law, that contracts to pay 'dollars' made during the war, are presumed to be payable in Confederate currency, subject to evidence of a different intent. ”

“ The ordinance and act require the courts, in the construction of contracts made in the insurgent States between certain dates, to assume as a fact that the parties intended by the term 'dollars' Confederate notes, and understood that the contracts were solvable in that currency; and they thus throw upon the party contesting the truth of the assumed fact the burden of establishing a different understanding. ”

“ The bonds of the railroad were intended for sale in the markets of the world generally, and not merely in the Confederate States; they were payable to bearer, and, therefore, transferable by delivery. They state on their face that they may be converted into the stock of the company, at par, by the holder. The declarations of the officers of the company up to July, 1863, show that the company treated the bonds as having an exceptional value, and not subject to the fluctuation of Confederate currency. ”