20 N.C. 209 | N.C. | 1839
after stating the case, proceeded: The opinion of the Judge would have been correct, if the purchaser of the bill had taken it without any endorsement or guaranty of the seller. And in the Stale of New York, it has been decided that an endorsee of business paper may recover of his immediate endorser, the money he paid for the bill, although it was less than the sum mentioned in the face of it; and that the endorser could not resist such an action by the plea of usury. These decisions wer'e, however, against the opinions of those learned jurists, Chancellors Kent and Walworth. In addition to the authorities from that State, cited by the plaintiff in support of this position, may be cited the case of Ham vs. Hendricks, 7 Wend. Rep. 569. It is true, that to constitute usury, there must be either a direct loan, and a taking of more than legal interest, or there must be some device for the purpose of concealing or evading the appearance of a loan, when in truth it was one; but the ordinary transaction of discounting a bill or note with an endorsement or guaranty from the transferor, is a lending within the statute. The party discounting, does, in fact, lend money on interest, to be repaid either by the person receiving, or by some other party to the bill, at a certain prefixed period. Byles on Bills, 72, 73. There is a distinction between taking a bill, and advancing money on it, with an endorsement or guaranty, and one without. The last is a purc/iase, and may be for less than the real value; the other a l°an> and within the operation of the Statute of Usury, Massa vs. Dauling, Strange 1243. The case before us, is ,t .... . completely within the rale laid down by this court, in the
Per Curiam. Judgment reversed,.