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52 Vt. 421

Gleason v. Childs

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided January 15, 1880

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1880-01-15

General Assumpsit. Pleas, general issue and Statute of Limitations, Trial by the court at the September Term, 1879, Dun-ton, J., presiding. The facts were as follows: In 1867 one Earle held a note against Cyrus Edson for $500, which was due, and on which payment was required. Edson asked the defendant to buy the note. The defendant had no money at the time, but agreed with Edson that he would raise the money, buy the note, and hold it for a year, for twenty dollars.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1880-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently November 1955

4 state decisions

1018801890190019101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1The opinion of the court was delivered by

Royce, J.

¶2The money that was paid by the plaintiff to Childs, and that is sought to be recovered back in this action, was not paid for the forbearance of any debt that the plaintiff owed Childs, or as interest upon any debt or claim then due from the plaintiff to Childs. The plaintiff was indebted to Edson, and Edson was indebted to Childs. The money paid by the plaintiff to Childs was under an agreement that in consideration of such payments Childs would give further time to Edson, and by so doing Edson would give further time to the plaintiff. Such a transaction has never been held by our courts to be usurious. It is neither within the letter or spirit of the statute. To constitute an usurious transaction there must generally be, first, a loan express or implied; secondly, an agreement that the money or thing loaned shall or may be returned ; thirdly, that a greater rate of interest than is allowed by law shall be paid. And where there is no loan or forbearance there can be no usury.

¶3Judgment reversed, and judgment for the defendant.

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