The City of Pekin v. Reynolds

• Decision Date: 30 April 1863
• Citation: 1863 WL 3142,83 Am.Dec. 244,31 Ill. 529
• Parties: THE CITY OF PEKINv.JOHN H. REYNOLDS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

31 Ill. 529

1863 WL 3142 (Ill.)

83 Am.Dec. 244

THE CITY OF PEKIN

v.JOHN H. REYNOLDS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April Term, 1863.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Peoria county; the Hon. A. L. MERRIMAN, Judge, presiding.

The city of Pekin, having subscribed the sum of one hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of the “Illinois River Railroad Company,” on the 1st day of January, 1857, made certain bonds for the sum of one thousand dollars each, payable to said company or bearer for a portion of such subscription.

The bonds were made payable twenty years after their date, with interest thereon at the rate of eight per cent. per annum from date, payable semi-annually, on the first days of January and July in each year at the American Exchange Bank in the city of New York, on the presentation and surrender of the proper coupons thereto attached. The coupons were in the following form:

“The City of Pekin will pay the bearer, at the American Exchange Bank, in the City of New York, on the first day of [January, 1861,] forty dollars, interest due on their bond No. [43.]

M. TACKABERRY, Mayor.”

John H. Reynolds, the defendant in error, having become the holder and owner of some of these bonds, with the coupons attached, presented the coupons that were due, to the American Exchange Bank for payment, which was refused.

It does not appear that the payment of the coupons was ever demanded from the city of Pekin. Reynolds instituted in the Circuit Court of Tazewell county, an action of debt against the city of Pekin, on the 22nd day of August, 1862, for the recovery of the amount of the coupons which had become due, and the payment of which had been refused by the American Exchange Bank.

The plaintiff claimed that interest was recoverable upon these coupons, but there was no averment of a demand of payment of the coupons from the defendant.

The defendant pleaded nil debet. The cause was taken, upon change of venue, to the Circuit Court of Peoria county, where such proceedings were had, that Reynolds, the plaintiff below, recovered a judgment against the defendant, for the sum of $1,280, debt, which was the amount of the coupons sued upon, and $90.68 damages, which was for interest on the amount of the coupons from the time they became due.

The defendant thereupon sued out this writ of error, and presents the question, whether interest was recoverable from the city of Pekin, upon the coupons.

Messrs. JOHN B. COHRS, and S. D. PUTERBAUGH, for the plaintiff in error.

Messrs. JOHNSON & HOPKINS, for the defendants in error.

Mr. JUSTICE WALKER delivered the opinion of the Court:

There was no averment of a demand upon the city treasurer for payment of these coupons, in this declaration. If such instruments could, in any event, draw interest without an express agreement, it could only be after a proper demand of payment. Until a demand is made, such a body is not in default. They are not like individuals, bound to seek their creditors, to make...