34 



CONTRACTS COXCERNING HORSES, ETC. 



Price directed 

 to be sent by 

 post. 



Post-office 

 order. 



Forged bank 

 note. 



Dishonoured 

 biU. 



Halves of 

 bank notes. 



Writing off 

 debt by agent 

 to agent. 



Banker's 

 cheque. 



If tlie buyer is directed to send the price by Post, or if 

 it lias been the usual practice between the parties, to do 

 so (i), and the letter containing the money properly di- 

 rected [j) and posted {k) is lost, the debt is extinguished, 

 and the seller must bear the loss (/). 



Where the defendant, in answer to a letter demanding 

 payment, sent a Post-Office Order, in which the plaintiff 

 was described by a wrong christian name, and the plaintiff 

 kept it, but did not cash it, although he was informed at 

 the Post Office he might receive the money at any time 

 by signing it in the name of the payee, it was held by the 

 Court of Exchequer that this was no evidence of pay- 

 ment {)n). 



If payment be made in forged Bank of England notes, 

 it may be treated as a nullity, and an action be maintained 

 by the creditor against the debtor for the money (w). 



Where there is a sale of specific chattels, and a bill is 

 given in payment, though the vendor has then lost his 

 lien in the strict sense of the word, yet, if afterwards an 

 insolvency happens, and the bill is dishonoiu'ed, then the 

 vendor has a right somewhat analogous to that which a 

 vendor has over goods i)i transitu, and if they are still in 

 his hands, he has a right to withhold the delivery of the 

 goods (o). 



If payment is made by halves of Bank notes, no pro- 

 perty in them passes to the payee, till the other halves are 

 sent {p) ; and therefore it would seem that such an in- 

 choate payment will be no payment within the Statute of 

 Frauds. 



If a creditor employs an agent to receive money from 

 a debtor, and the agent, instead of so doing, writes off a 

 debt due from himself to the debtor, his debtor is not 

 thereby discharged, unless indeed there is a subsequent 

 ratification by the creditor of the act of his agent (y) . 



If a creditor is offered cash in payment of his debt, or 

 a cheque upon a Banker from an agent of his debtor, and 

 he prefers the latter, this does not discharge the debtor 

 if the cheque be dishonoured ; although the agent fails 



{() WanvicTie v. Xoalxs, Peake, 

 N. P. 98. 



[j) Walter V. Ilaijnes, E. & M. 

 149. 



(^•) HaicMns v. Rutt, Peake, N. 

 P. 248. 



(/) Kington v. Kington, 11 M. & 

 W. 233. 



[m) Gordon, v. Strange, 1 Ex. 477. 



(«) See Chit. Contr.' 10th ed. 681. 



[o) Per Cronipton, J., Griffiths \. 

 Ferry, 28 L. J., Q. B. 204. 



{])) Smith V. Mundy, 29 L. J., 

 Q. B. 172. 



{q) Undencood v. Nichols, 25 L. 

 J., C. P. 79. 



