21 Iowa 565 | Iowa | 1866
Upon the general principle that no man ought to be a judge in his own cause, and the not very remote deductions’therefrom rendering it indirectly applicable to this case, it is reasonably clear that there was no abuse “ in the exercise of a sound discretion” (which is conferred by the statute, Eev., § 3039,-subdiv. 2) on the part of the court in excluding the juror, and in giving the direction, as stated, to the sheriff. This point was substantially so
By the Constitution of 1846, which was in force till September, 1857, banking, or the issuing of paper to circulate as money, was prohibited, and the General Assembly was directed to prohibit, by law, any person or corporation from exercising banking privileges or creating paper to' circulate as money. Const, of 1846, art. 8, § 1. The Legislature, pursuant to this provision of the Constitution, prohibited banking and the issuance of paper to circulate as money, and provided penalties for any violation thereof. Code of 1851, §§ 2731 to 2734 inclusive. These provisions of the Code of 1851 were in force at the time the scrip sued on in this case was issued. Section 2734 was as follows:
“No person, association or corporation shall issue any-bills, drafts or other evidences of debt to be loaned or put in circulation as money, or to pass, or to be used as a currency or circulating medium; and every person, association or corporation, and every member thereof, who violates the provision of this section shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.”
It is clear, therefore, that if the obligations sued on in this case were issued for the purpose of being used and circulated as money in violation of the statute, that they were void and could not be the basis of a recovery. Since the answer to the question, which was excluded by the court, might have disclosed a complete defense to the action, was proper cross-examination and pertinent to the issue mades, it was error to exclude the same. Reynolds v. Nichols & Co., 12 Iowa, 398.
The court also refused certain instructions asked by the defendant and gave others asked by the plaintiff, but all the further questions involved in the case are sufficiently and definitely settled by the three cases above referred to, which have been decided since this case was tried in the District Court, and as they were well considered cases, and are still fully approved by us, it is unnecessary to restate and rule again the same questions, or further consider them here.
Reversed.