William Strong

“ It may be that no action would lie against a purchaser of the bonds, or against the defendants on any engagement made by them to sell. Such a contract would have been illegal. But when the illegal transaction has been consummated; when no court has been called upon to give aid to it; when the proceeds of the sale have been actually received, and received in that which the law recognizes as having had value; and when they have been carried to the credit of the plaintiffs, the case is different. The court is there not asked to enforce an illegal contract. ”

“ The reason, therefore, for the denial of the right of such seizure between two independent governments on the breaking out of war, would seem to have no application to a war waged for the suppression of a rebellion, and we may further add that notwithstanding the strong language of 'Camillus,' the decisions of this court are decidedly in favor of the right, even as between foreign nations. ”

“ If the order was originally illegal, the government has protected the officer from suit. It has made his acts its own, and if wrong has been inflicted, the creditor can look only to the good faith of Congress. ”

“ Mr. Justice STRONG delivered the opinion of the court.
Whether the payment in Confederate notes, and the quartermaster's acceptance of them in discharge of the balance, was a satisfaction of the claim of the plaintiffs upon the defendants is a controlling question in the case. The Circuit Court instructed the jury that it was not, because payment was made to the quartermaster in Confederate notes, which the court was of opinion he had no authority to receive, though holding that the military authorities thus exacting payment were invested with all the rights of a creditor. ”

“ Again,
'Where the persons or goods of an enemy are found in our country, there is a reliance upon our hospitality and justice; there is an express or implied safe conduct; the individuals and their property are in the custody of our faith. To make them a prey is therefore to infringe every rule of generosity and equity ”

“ A loan for consumption to be returned in kind contemplates a restoration not of the identical thing loaned, but of a similar article equal in quantity, and if no return be made, all that the lender can require is the value of the thing which should have been returned at the time when the contract was broken. ”

“ The value at the time of the loan is not to be considered. Both parties take the risk of appreciation or depreciation. Why should not a similar rule be applied to the present case? Ought the plaintiffs to recover more than the damages they have sustained from the breach of the contract? Ought they to be placed in a better position than that they would occupy if the defendants had paid them the right quantity of Confederate notes when they were demanded? We think not. ”

“ Payment to a usurped government such as that of the Confederates is held good on the principle of irresistible force.
This court lately decided [5] that the United States could not recover against one of its officers who had paid over to the Confederate authorities the amount due to the former, for the payment had thus extinguished the debt. ”

“ Another error assigned by the defendants is, that the court ordered execution to issue on the judgment first recovered for the sum of $26,752.63, without prejudice to the plaintiffs' rights to recover the balance, that amount having been admitted to be due, and that this was done before the motion for a new trial was disposed of. It must be admitted that though there was a judgment in existence, the order of an execution at the time it was made was anomalous. ”