United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Stewart v. Salamon, 94 U.S. 434 (1876)

Stewart v. Salamon

94 U.S. 434

Syllabus

1. Where a promissory note for dollars, made in Georgia, in January, 1863, is shown to have been solvable in Confederate treasury notes, the sum thereby payable in actual money must be ascertained by the value in coin or legal currency of the United States, at the time when and the place where the note was made, of such treasury notes, equal in nominal amount to the number of dollars specified.

2. Where a payment is endorsed in the same monetary terms which are used in the note itself, the presumption is that it was intended to be credited in the same circulating medium. If the parties intended otherwise, some proof on the subject should be presented.

3. Accordingly, where a promissory note for dollars, shown to be solvable at the time it was made in Confederate treasury notes, had a receipt for a specified number of dollars endorsed upon it, it was held that, in the absence of proof, the principal designated on the face of the note was reduced only by the amount specified in the receipt.