debt
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 266 U.S. 243 - Miller v. Robertson · 1924Most cited · 715 citing opinions
Trading with the Enemy Act
A cause of action for damages for breach of contract is a debt within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act, and of laws relating to attachments, to receiverships, to stockholders' liability for corporate debts, to probate, to set-offs, to fraudulent conveyances, and to limitation of actions.
How the Supreme Court has restated “debt”
Each Supreme Court definition of “debt,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “debt”
Court decisions citing the 9 opinions that defined “debt” — 1,977 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 9 definitions, chronological · 1791–1935
- ORIGINAL
A debt is a sum of money due by express agreement; either in writing, or by parol, where the quantity is fixed, and does not depend on future calculation; the non-payment or non-performance is an injury, for which an action of debt may be brought.
The general principle has been very correctly stated by Lord Chief Baron Comyn, that debt lies upon every express contract to pay a sum certain; and he adds, also, that it lies though there be only an implied contract... we apply the well-settled doctrine that debt lies in every case where the common law creates a duty for the payment of money, and in every case where there is an express contract for the payment of money.
when action of debt lies
The clause making the United States notes a legal tender for debts has no reference to taxes imposed by State authority, but relates only to debts in the ordinary sense of the word, arising out of simple contracts or contracts by specialty, which include judgments and recognizances.
A debt is distinguishable from any instrument of evidence of the debt. The promissory note constitutes the res against which a proceeding in rem may be instituted, and not a 'credit,' or debt, which the note is supposed to represent; the note is a visible thing capable of physical possession, whereas the debt or credit is a right in action.
as distinct from promissory note
Debt lies whenever a sum certain is due to the plaintiff, or a sum which can readily be reduced to a certainty,—a sum requiring no future valuation to settle its amount. It is not necessarily founded upon contract. It is immaterial in what manner the obligation was incurred, or by what it is evidenced, if the sum owing is capable of being definitely ascertained.
When a man sells a horse, what he does, from the point of view of the law, is to transfer a right, and a right being regarded by the law as a thing, even though a res incorporalis, it is not illogical to apply the same rule to a debt that would be applied to a horse. It is not illogical to say that the debt is as liable to sale as it is to the acquisition of a lien.
as transferable thing
The buyer's rights were upon a contract for the delivery of merchandise and were not a 'debt' in either a technical or a colloquial sense
A debt does not furnish a continuum upon which a trust can be imposed after cancellation or extinguishment has put the debt out of existence.
as basis for trust tracing