Hazelhurst v. Kean
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Suit on a bill of exchange, drawn at Charleston in South Carolina, on the 16th May 1798, by the defendant’s intestate, on Henry Henderson, in Philadelphia, for $2939.13, payable to the plaintiffs at sixty days sight. The bill was accepted by Henderson on the 1st June 1798, protested on the 3d August following for non-payment, and notice thereof > given immediately to the drawer.
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Suit on a bill of exchange, drawn at Charleston in South Carolina, on the 16th May 1798, by the defendant’s intestate, on Henry Henderson, in Philadelphia, for $2939.13, payable to the plaintiffs at sixty days sight. The bill was accepted by Henderson on the 1st June 1798, protested on the 3d August following for non-payment, and notice thereof > given immediately to the drawer. It was admitted by the plaintiffs, that the principal sum had been paid ; but they contended, that they were entitled to 10 per cent, damages, on the protested bill, under a law of South Carolina, passed 22d March…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The lex loci must govern in cases of this nature. Cowp. 343. The parties must be supposed to.have in contemplation the law of the place, where the contract is made, and it necessarily forms a part of the contract. On bonds executed in Ireland, where the legal interest is 6 per cent., the English courts uniformly allow Irish interest. The same rule holds as to bonds in India, and bills of exchange drawn in different parts of Europe.
In the present case, -the plaintiffs are entitled to damages, unless the words “returned protested” in the 3d section of the act, make it indispensably…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Allen v. Union Bank of LouisianaSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1840
- Lennig v. RalstonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1854