WRIT of error to the supreme court of the state of Missouri.
In 1823, an action of trespass on the case was instituted in the circuit court for the county of Chariton, in the state of Missouri, by the state of Missouri, against Hiram Craig and others. The declaration sets forth the cause of action in the following terms:
'For, that whereas, heretofore, on the 1st day of August, in the year of our lord 1822, at the county of Chariton, aforesaid, the said Craig, John Moore, and Ephraim Moore, made their certain promissory note in writing, bearing date the day and year aforesaid, and now to the court here shown, and thereby, and then and there, for value received, jointly, and severally, promised to pay to the state of Missouri, on the 1st day of November 1822, at the loan office in Chariton, the sum of one hundred and ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, and the two per centum per annum, the interest accruing on the certificates borrowed, from the 1st day of October 1821. Nevertheless, the said Hiram Craig, John Moore, and Ephraim Moore, did not on the 1st day of November, or at any time before or since, pay to the state of Missouri, at the loan office in Chariton, the said sum of one hundred and ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, or the two per centum per annum, the interest accruing on the certificates borrowed, from the 1st day of October 1821; but the same to pay, &c.'
To this declaration the defendants pleaded the general issue; and neither party requiring a trial by jury, the case was submitted to the court on the evidence and the arguments of counsel. The record contained the following entry of the proceedings of the court:
'And afterwards, at a court began and held at Chariton, on Monday the 1st day of November 1824, and on the second day of said court, in open court, the parties came into court by their attorneys, and neither party requiring a jury, the cause is submitted to the court; therefore, all and singular the matter and things and evidences being seen and heard by the court, it is found by them, that the said defendants did assume upon themselves, in manner and form as the plaintiffs, by their counsel, allege: and the court also find that the consideration for which the writing declared upon, and the assumpsit was made, was for the loan of loan office certificates, loaned by the state at her loan office at Chariton; which certificates were issued, and the loan made in the manner pointed out by an act of the legislature of the said state of Missouri, approved the 27th day of June 1821, entitled, 'an act for the establishment of loan offices, and the acts amendatory and supplementary thereto.' And the court do further find that the plaintiff hath sustained damages by reason of the non-performance of the assumptions and undertakings of them, the said defendants, to the sum of two hundred and thirty-seven dollars and seventy-nine cents. Therefore it is considered, &c.'
The defendants in the circuit court of the county of Chariton appealed, in 1825, to the supreme court of the state of Missouri, the highest tribunal in that state; where the judgment of the circuit court was affirmed.
The defendants prosecuted this writ of error, under the twenty-fifth section of the judiciary act of 1789.
The act of the legislature of Missouri, under which the certificates were issued which formed the consideration of the note declared upon, was passed on the 27th of June 1821. It is entitled 'an act for the establishment of loan offices, &c.' The provisions of the third, thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, twenty-third and twenty-fourth sections of the act, are all that have a connexion with the questions in the case which were before the court.
'Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That the auditor of public accounts and treasurer, under the direction of the governor, shall, and they are hereby required to issue certificates signed by the said auditor and treasurer to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars, of denominations not exceeding ten dollars, nor less than fifty cents, (to bear such devices as they may deem the most safe) in the following form, to wit: This certificate shall be receivable at the treasury or any of the loan offices of the state of Missouri, in the discharge of taxes or debts due to the state, for the sum of $ _, with interest for the same, at the rate of two per centum per annum from this date, the ___ day of _ 182