Bondsman

“ But the obligors in the bond cannot permit themselves to be sued, without forfeiting their credit at the customhouse; for the act of Congress declares, that no person whose bond has been received either as principal or surety for the payment of duties, and which bond may be due and unsatisfied, shall be allowed a future credit for duties, until such bond shall be fully paid or satisfied. ”

“ Those questions were: 1. Whether the obligation of the receiver and his sureties, being without seal, was a bond within the act of Congress of May 10th, 1800, which provided that a receiver of public moneys for lands of the United States 'shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, give bond, with approved security . . . for the faithful discharge of his trust.' 2 Stat. ”

“ I will provide the money of which you stand in need, will take a bond from you for it, which I am not to enforce against you, unless you should fall into misfortune, and then only, should I see fit to do so, for the benefit of yourself or your family, if you will give me an absolute conveyance of the property.' The conveyance is given, the bond is taken, and now it is said the transaction was intended to be an absolute sale, and not a security for a loan. We do not think that the connexion between the bond and the deed can be dismembered. ”

“ It is clearly a part of the duty of the master to approve such bonds. The bond is an official one, to be filed in court, not kept by the receiver. The receiver is to act only on such a bond as the proper officer of the court shall have approved. It is the duty of the receiver not to surrender the property till such a bond, properly approved, be filed. The order does not give the receiver the right, nor throw on them the duty of approving the bond. ”

“ The narrative of the negotiation which led to the issue of the bonds and interest warrants, brings the case, by the declaration in the bond as to the object and purpose for which they were issued, to entirely within that we have shown to the law in such cases as to the inference which may be made from the face of the bond, of its having been regularly executed by the party having authority to do it, that we are relieved from the task of considering much of the argument made to us by counsel ”

“ He knows, and the collector knows, that the bond ought to be given in three months after the collector has begun to discharge the duties of his office. It is his duty to give the bond. It is the comptroller's to see that it is done. It is not necessary that it should be handed to the comptroller. It may be handed to an agent appointed by the comptroller to receive it, or it may be put into the possession of any person to deliver it, or it may be transmitted by mail. If done in any one of these ways, it is a delivery from the moment that the collector and his sureties part with it. ”

“ It would be a very mischievous interpretation of the act to suppose, that under such circumstances it was the intendment of the act that the bond should be utterly void. Nothing, we think but very strong and express language, should induce a court of justice to adopt such an interpretation. Where the act speaks out, it would be our duty to follow it: where it is silent, it is a sufficient compliance with the policy of the act, to declare the bond void, as to any conditions which are imposed upon a party beyond what the law requires. ”

“ On the first question propounded by the counsel for the United States, and also on the first question propounded by the counsel for the defendant, this court is of opinion, that the obligors undertook for the faithful performance by the president and directors, of the contract recited in the condition of the bond, on which the suit is instituted; and not for their own conduct as individuals; and that they are responsible for any failure on the part of the bank to perform that engagement. ”

“ Its design is to secure that the obligor, i.e. the person giving the bond, will either pay a sum of money, or do or refrain from doing some act; and for this purpose the obligor binds himself in a penalty to the obligee, with a condition added that, if the obligor pays the sum secured—which is usually half the penalty—or does or refrains from doing the specified act, the bond shall be void: otherwise it shall remain in full force. ”

“ Justice White which required 'the defendant to furnish bond in the sum of five thousand dollars, conditioned according to law, subject to approval by the district judge,' was a valid exercise of his authority to order bail, in an amount fixed by him, to be taken by the district judge, leaving the form of the bond and the sufficiency of the sureties to be passed upon by the latter. ”

“ That all custom-house officers who now are, or hereafter may be, required by law to give bond with surety for the faithful discharge of the duties of their office, shall give such bond, with surety, according to the requirements of law, before they shall be qualified to enter upon the performance of said duties. ”

“ It has been said, that it is obligor’s fault not to have the payment indorsed on the bond: but it is not in his power, for the money must be paid before he is entitled to a receipt; and then, if the obligee is a bad man, he may refuse to indorse it.
We are, therefore, clearly of opinion, that an assignee takes the bond at his own peril; and that he stands in the same place as the obligee, so as to let in every defalcation which the obligor had against the obligee, at the time of the assignment, or notice of assignment. ”

“ No sane person would have bought a bond with such an obligation resting upon him whenever he called for payment of principal or interest. If such was the duty of the holder, it was always his duty. It could not be performed once for all. ”

“ If a bond, with surety required by law of an officer, be signed and sealed by the parties who are named as obligors to the United States, and sent by mail, or by private conveyance, to the proper department, and be sued upon by the United States, such circumstances must be prim a facie evidence of delivery ”

“ That the bonds should turn up in the possession of some one else was to be expected. But to hold that, after all this was shown in defence, such holder should have a judgment on those bonds, without any proof that he purchased them for value or that he gave any consideration for them at all, is in our judgment pushing the doctrine which gives sanctity to negotiable paper beyond any just principle or any decided case. ”

“ It is incredible that a man should purchase this large amount of bonds for half their face value without looking at them, or even noticing whether they were signed or sealed, without making any inquiries with regard to the responsibility of the town, or the circumstances under which the bonds were issued, the nonpayment of the overdue coupons, or the title of the person-to him an entire stranger-through whom he purchased them. ”

“ All who bind themselves in a bond, are equally obligors; and there are many cases, in the construction of bonds, where the letter of the condition has been departed from, to carry into effect the intention of the parties. And it is a rule in the construction of all deeds, that they are to be construed most strictly against those who make them, and most favorably for those for whose benefit they are made, as every contract is. ”

“ Supposing that the lender is satisfied with all his securities, and that the borrower is of age and of a family whose property is ample, solid, secure, and free from all incumbrances, there shall be drawn up a good and correct bond before as honest a notary as it is possible to find, and who for this purpose shall be chosen by the lender, because he is the more concerned of the two that the bond should be rightly executed. ”

“ But there were the bonds. My experience of such articles is regrettedly small; but, such as it was, it went to show that they were genuine. Bonds for £20,000 are not a joke. They are among the most solemn facts of life. If, then, they were real, the presumption was that the will was not less so. In which case my duty was to have it proved, and to see that to terms were carried out. Anyhow, there were the bonds on which to draw for payment of my fees. Emphatically, my practice was not of sufficient extent to permit me to treat so fat a client with indifferent scorn. ”

“ The delivery of a bond is only complete when it has been accepted by the obligee, or a third person, 'for, and in his behalf, and to his use.'
The terms I have quoted from the Touchstone, imply a cession of the title to the paper in the act of delivery.
The third person, who thus represents the obligee, is not subject to the mandate of the obligor, nor amenable to his control. ”

“ We are award, as shown by the citations on the plaintiffs' brief, that official bonds, and bonds given to the government for the purpose of enjoying certain offices or privileges, and perhaps some others subject to like reason, have often been sustained as contracts at common law, voluntarily entered into, where they have not conformed to the statutory requirements, and would have been insufficient and ineffectual for the purposes of a recovery, if those requirements had been applied to them. ”

“ An instrument executed and delivered by the obligor, signed and sealed by him, not legally assignable in any but the one way provided by the act of 1715, that is, under the hand and seal of the obligee, before two credible witnesses, and when assigned, subject to all the equities then existing between the original parties:-such is a bond in law, in equity, and in the popular sense of the word. ”

“ The liability arising through signature to a surety bond is a contingent liability resting upon the good faith and honor of the bonded party. The practice of personal bondsmen is not so prevalent as formerly. Experience shows that the liability of the bondsmen may become very real, and not only should suitable provision be made for it but its existence should be shown on the balance sheet. ”

“ The last proviso in the section emphasizes this distinction: 'The court below may, in its discretion, require, as a condition of the appeal, an additional injunction bond.' The bond is described. It is not a bond to secure against injuries which may result if a receiver is wrongfully appointed or discharged, but is technically an injunction bond; that is, a bond to answer for damages, in case of a wrongful order either granting, continuing, or vacating an injunction. ”

“ In view of your remark, I have nothing to say except to authorize you to consider a portion of the bonds belonging to my firm, which you have in your possession, as collateral security, in case you should not be covered.' You see that according to the authority which you invoke you have no right to cover yourself by means of these bonds, except those uncovered sums for which you might not have received the paper against which they were drawn at the moment of the demand for the restitution of the bonds. ”

“ Where the bond is taken between individuals, under no restraint as to power to make the contract, no matter how voluntary, there must still be an officer having power to take voluntary bonds for the United States ”

“ If a marshal, before the date of his official bond, receive, upon an execution, money due to the United States, with orders from the comptroller to pay it into the Bank of the United States, which he neglects to do, the sureties in his official bond, executed afterwards, are not liable therefor upon the bond ”

“ Section 6303, as amended, provides: 'Whenever a final judgment has been rendered against any surety company on a fidelity, appearance, supersedeas or surety bond, the surety on said bond shall pay the same within thirty days. ”

“ The plaintiff has recovered a judgment for the sum which the principal obligor in the bond admitted to be due from him as collector. The judgment includes nothing except an unpaid balance of duties collected, and we discover no error in the trial. ”

“ The only act which she is ever said to have done or performed in person, asserting a claim to these bonds, is a notice to which her name is appended, to the defendants, some six months after the exchange of the bond and mortgage for the railroad bonds, in which she says they are her bonds, and forbids them to sell them. ”

“ Your Honor, I was going to ask for some time in which to get his affairs straightened out, and within which to file an appeal, should we so desire to do.
'The Court. Very well. If you file an appeal, of course, if you apply for bond, I will tell you now that I will grant you bond. Be permitted to go under the bond you are under now. How much time do you want? ”

“ Thus money due on a bond is a chose in action; for a property in the debt vests at the time of forfeiture mentioned in the obligation, but there is no possession till recovered by course of law. If a man promises, or covenants with me, to do any act, and fails in it, whereby I suffer damage ”

“ The constable placed the envelope in his hands, and Justice Davis, opening it, drew out three bonds.
“I find two one-hundred-dollar bonds,” he said, “and one fifty-dollar bond.”
“The two hundred-dollar bonds are mine,” said Colonel Ross.
“That is, you claim them,” said the justice, cautiously. “I will read the numbers.
“This one,” he proceeded, unfolding one, “is numbered 9,867, and the other”—after a pause—“11,402. It strikes me, Colonel Ross, that you will have to look further for your bonds.” ”

“ It is true that in England and law is, that a bond delivered in blank, as it respects the payee, is void, and the blank incapable of being filled up by the holder, either upon an implied or express parol authority from the maker. ”

“ All the provisions of this statute regulating the institution of suits and the recovery by judgment of unpaid balances from delinquent officers, are as much a part of their bonds as if they were recited in them; and officers and their securities are, in contemplation of law, apprized of those provisions, when their bonds are executed. ”