Legal bond

“ In this act it was provided that the purchase money might 'be discharged in any of the outstanding legal bonds of the state;' and that, upon the sale of any of the franchises of either of the companies, 'all rights, privileges, and immunities appertaining to the franchises so sold under its act of incorporation and the amendments thereto, and the general improvement law of the state and acts amendatory thereof, shall be transferred to and vest in such purchaser ”

“ If he contracts jointly with his principal, it is a legal consequence known to all the parties, that his personal estate will be discharged in case he should die before his principal. Such being the law, it may be considered as a part of the written condition of the bond. And equity will not interfere to extend the liability, as against his estate, on the ground that such discharge arises from the mere technicalities of the law. ”

“ The township had authority by law to issue its bonds by way of donation to a railroad. It did issue its bonds. They got into circulation as commercial securities, and were purchased by the plaintiff. All the plaintiff had to do in case of non-payment was simply to sue on the bonds. If there was any defence to them by reason of want of performance of any of the requisites necessary to give them validity, or for any other cause, it was for the defendant to show it. A bond, especially a negotiable bond, is a prima facie obligation of the obligor, if he has capacity to make it ”

“ If it was intended by congress to enlarge the scope of the section so as to include other bonds than those given for duties, (as seems to be the necessary inference from the language,) still, it is restricted to 'bonds:' the words are 'whenever the principal in any bond given to the United States is insolvent,' etc., and any 'surety on the bond' pays the money due upon 'such bond,' such surety shall have the like priority, etc., and may bring and maintain a suit upon 'the bond' in his own name, etc. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In order that such claims may be satisfied, the United States has made provision for their protection by bonds upon which persons may recover damages, so that those who furnish property of which the government receives the benefit shall not entail a loss by so doing. Read in the light of this policy, so manifestly just and proper, and the requirements of this contract and bond, we think that the government did not intend that the lien which it reserved for itself should be superior to that of contractors for labor and material who had contributed to the work. ”

“ The fact which establishes the lien is the issue of bonds by the state to a company; that is to say, the delivery of bonds by the state to a company under the contract of loan. The lien attaches as soon as the delivery is complete, and when there is no obligation on the part of the company to the holders for the payment of the bonds, because the company is itself the holder, and there can be no obligation of payment by itself to itself. ”

“ The amendments made to the declaration after demurrer have not removed the original mistake, as to the parties who should have been joined as plaintiffs. In an action of debt on bond, the demand is for the penalty. The condition of the bond is no part of the obligation. ”

“ Dashiel came before the court I was not satisfied with the doctrine of the former cases. I do not believe now that on sound principle the bond should be construed to extend the obligation of the depositary beyond what the law imposes upon him, though it may contain words of express promise to pay over the money. I think the true construction of such a promise is to pay when the law would require it of the receiver, if no bond had been given; the object of taking the bond being to obtain sureties for the performance of that obligation. ”

“ So that the point to be determined, from an examination of the statute, is whether a state, when lending its own bonds and taking back security for their payment, intended to protect those who might afterwards become the holders of the bonds against the consequences of its own repudiation or inability to pay, or only to indemnify itself against loss by reason of the loan of its credit to those who were engaged in constructing its great works of internal improvement. ”

“ But we are inclined to the opinion-although uninformed upon the subject by any direct decision of the Supreme Court of the State to which our attention has been called-that municipal bonds and coupons were regarded by the framers both of the revision of 1849 and that of 1858, as, alike, sealed instruments to which the limitation of twenty years was applicable. The word 'bond' at common law (and even now as a general rule) imports a sealed instrument. ”

“ So, where an importer and two sureties executed two bonds for duties, and the principal being insolvent, one of the sureties paid the whole amount and brought a suit against the other surety for contribution on the bond which first fell due, and was defeated, on a plea of release, by the obligee, with his own consent, the judgment was held in a subsequent suit for contribution for the amount paid on the other bond, to be a conclusive bar to the second claim, it appearing that both bonds were given at the same time, upon the same consideration, and as parts of one and the same transaction. ”

“ When a corporation covenants to pay to bearer and gives a bond with negotiable qualities, and by this means obtains funds for the accomplishment of the useful enterprises of the day, it cannot be allowed to evade the payment by parading some obsolete judicial decision that a bond, for some technical reason, cannot be made payable to bearer. ”

“ The bill further provides that the heirs to whom the payment is to be made shall execute and file with the Secretary of the Treasury a bond "conditioned to save harmless the United States from loss or liability on account of said bonds or the interest accrued thereon, and to contain such words as to cover any liability resulting from any mistake in the designation or description of the bonds, so that in no event shall the United States be called upon by a rightful claimant for a second payment thereof." ”

“ And so the act of congress says, if you wish to appeal this case to another court and go through another trial, instead of appointing a receiver to take possession, we will require of you a bond to secure all damages suffered by the appellee by reason of the delay; and as he is entitled to have the land sold at once for his debt, or to have possession delivered so that rents and profits may be appropriated where they ought to go, you can only suspend the operation of the decree by giving such a bond. ”

“ In the case of an official bond, even if its benefits are not incidental, it may well be that the legislative body is of the opinion that actions on the bond should be limited to the government in order to secure unified administration of claims. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In County Bond Cases, while this principle of law is not expressly contradicted, it is held that the paper, though issued without authority of law, and in opposition to its express provisions, is still valid.
There is no reason, in the nature of the condition on which the power depends in these cases, why any purchaser should not take notice of its existence before he buys. The bonds in each case were issued at one time, as one act, of one date, and in payment of one subscription. ”

“ 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. ”

“ That a bond given by or to a public officer, or to the government, is not invalid merely because there is no law which specifically authorizes the one to demand or requires the other to give it. That it is only void where the condition is against law requiring. ”

“ They do not undertake for their general conduct as individuals. They do not undertake for each other as to any matter not expressed in the bond. They undertake that the bank shall perform the contract recited in the condition, and for nothing more.
The bond does not stipulate that the obligors will do any thing which may facilitate the operations of the bank in collecting its debts and performing its contract with the United States. ”

“ If the beneficiary named in this bill has a better right to the money, the Government, not being in default, should be protected against double payment. I suppose to sustain a claim upon the indemnity bond given when the duplicate was issued in 1864 we should be prepared to show that the second payment on the original bond was made upon such a state of facts as compelled or at least justified it. The passage of an act simply directing such payment would alone not be sufficient. ”

“ The purchaser was not bound to look further for evidence of a compliance with the conditions to the grant of the power. This principle was recently applied in a case in the Court of Exchequer in England. (6 Ellis & Blackburn, p. 327, The Royal British Bank v. Tarquand.) It was an action upon a bond against the defendant, as the manager of a joint stock company. The defence was a want of power under the deed of settlement or charter to give the bond. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It requires a distinct and independent act on the part of the government. 'The United States agree, upon receiving the bond of individuals, to assign the direction and management of the suit which has been instituted in the district court of Maryland against the bank, to the individuals who thus enter into bond.' Till this authority was actually given, the attorney for the United States would have disregarded, and ought to have disregarded any orders received from the obligors in the bond. ”

“ 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 ”

“ As the statutory remedy for the enforcement of the statutory lien must be presumed to have been intended to be commensurate with the lien itself, and this remedy was confined to cases of default in making deposits, there cannot be a doubt that it was the understanding of the legislature that a deposit for interest was a payment of interest on the bonds, so far as the company was concerned, and released the company as well as its property from all further liability to the state, or to any one else, which had been assumed for interest. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is true, that the bottomry bond was taken for a larger amount; but that furnishes no ground of objection to the bond, except for the surplus; for a bottomry bond may be good in part, and bad in part; and it will be upheld by courts of admiralty, as a lien to the extent to which it is valid; as such courts, in the exercise of their jurisdiction, are not governed by the strict rules of the common law, but act upon enlarged principles of equity. ”