22 Gratt. 364 | Va. | 1872
I am of opinion that the contract of the 26th day of August 1862, between the appellant James Sanders and the appellee li. L, Branson, for the sale of a tract of land by the former to the latter, as in the proceedings'mentioned, “ was, according to the true understanding and agreement of the parties/to be fulfilled or performed in Confederate States treasury notes,orwasentered into with reference to such notes as a standard of value,” within the intent and meaning of the act passed March 3, 1866, entitled “An act providing for the adjustment of liabilities arising under contracts and wills made between the 1st day of Jauuary 1862, and the 10th day of April 1865,” Acts of Assembly 1865-6, chap. 71, p. 184 ; and of the act amendatory thereof, passed February 28,1867, Acts of Assembly 1866’-7, chap. 270, p. 694. Confederate States treasury notes were almost the only, if not the only, currency in circulation at the date of the contract, and a presumption of fact would arise from that circumstance alone, in the absence of anything tending to show the contrary, that the dealing of the parties was in reference to that standard of value. But the presumption is supported in this case by the fact, that the contract price of the land, $4,000, bore about the same proportion to the specie value of the laud at the time of the contract, the highest estimate of which was $3,000, that the value of Confederate States treasury notes then bore to specie; and also by the evidence of witnesses for the vendor, who were present when the contract was entered into, or when the bonds were given, and who state, that though nothing was then said about the kind of money in which the bonds were to be paid, they con
I am further of opinion, that under all the circumstances of this case, the amount due upon the bonds in controversy should be ascertained, not by scaling the nominal amount of the bonds, in the mode and manner prescribed by section 2 of the said act of March 3, 1866, but by regarding the fair value of the property sold at the time of the sale, as the value in good money of the consideration agreed to be paid for it, according to the mode of adjustment prescribed by the proviso embodied in section 1 of the said act of February 28, 1867; and that the amount which may appear to be due upon the said bonds according to the standard of value afforded by the proviso aforesaid, “ would be the most just measure of recovery” in this case. That the mode of adjustment provided by the latter act is constitutional, that it generally affords the most just measure of recovery where it applies, and that it does so in such a case as this, is clearly shown by my Brother Christian, in an opinion delivered in Pharis v. Dice, 21 Gratt. p. 303, in which all the other judges concurred. See also Carter v. Ragland, Id. 574, and Meredith, &c., v. Salmon, Id. 762.
I am further of opinion, that the appellee, Branson, is entitled to relief as aforesaid in this suit; which is a suit in equity brought by him under section 4 of the said act of March 3, 1866. That section provides, that “ in any case wherein it shall appear, that on any contract made, or liability incurred, on or after the 1st day of January 1862, and before the 10th day of April 1865, the debtor, on or after the maturity of the claim against him, and within the period above mentioned, made to the creditor, his agent or attorney at law, a bona fide and actual tender of the amount due, in the said Confederate States treasury notes, or other equal or better currency, and that the creditor then refused to accept the same, a court of equity may grant relief to the debtor unless it
I am therefore of opinion that the said decree is erroneous, and ought to be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings to be had therein in conformity with the foregoing opinion.
Decree reversed.