that the money had been used by the defendant, and interest made of Jury empowered it a. But now, by the late act for the further amendment of the law ", &c. it is enacted, that “ upon all debts or sums certain, payable at a "certain time or otherwise, the jury, on the trial of any issue, or on to allow interest upon all debts. Interest not formerly recoverable in trover, or trespass de bonis asportatis, beyond value of the goods. Nor in actions on policies of assurance. any inquisition of damages, may, if they shall think fit, allow in"terest to the creditor, at a rate not exceeding the current rate of in"terest, from the time when such debts or sums certain were pay"able, if such debts or sums be payable by virtue of some written "instrument at a certain time, or, if payable otherwise, then from the "time when demand of payment shall have been made in writing; so as such demand shall give notice to the debtor that interest will be "claimed from the date of such demand, until the term of payment: 'provided, that interest shall be payable in all cases, in which it is now "payable by law." In an action however, on an attorney's bill, where the plaintiff gave notice, pursuant to the above act, that he should claim interest from the date of the notice, and after the writ was issued, the bill was referred to taxation, at the instance of the defendant, no terms being made as to the allowance of interest, the court held that the plaintiff could not afterwards have an assessment of damages, for the purpose of recovering the interest ". 66 In actions of trover, or trespass de bonis asportatis, interest was not formerly recoverable, as such, beyond the amount of the value of the goods, at the time of the conversion or seizure; though, in trover for a bill of exchange, it was holden that damages were to be calculated according to the amount of the principal and interest due upon the bill, at the time of the demand and refusal to deliver it up d. In actions on policies of assurance, it was formerly usual to allow interest; but this practice having been disapproved off, it was afterwards settled, that in an action on a policy, the plaintiff could not recover interest upon the sum insured &, unless evidence were given that he had applied to the underwriter to settle the loss, soon after it happened, and notified to him the ground of such application h. But now, by the a De Havilland v. Bowerbank, 1 Campb. 50; and see Crockford v. Winter, id. 124. 129. Walker v. Constable, 1 Bos. & P. 306. Tappenden v, Randall, 2 Bos. & P. 467. 472. Depcke v. Munn, 3 Car. & P. 112. Goodchild v. Fenton, 3 Younge & J. 481; and see Tidd Prac. 9 Ed. 871, 2. Tidd Sup. 1830. p. 153, 4. b 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 42. § 28; and see 4 Rep. C. L. Com. 33, 4. 46. Berrington v. Phillips, 1 Meeson & late act for the further amendment of the law, &c. " the jury, on the “trial of any issue, or on any inquisition of damages, may, if they "shall think fit, give damages, in the nature of interest, over and above "the value of the goods at the time of the conversion or seizure, in all "actions of trover, or trespass be bonis asportatis; and over and above "the money recoverable in all actions on policies of assurance, made "after the passing of that act." 66 66 66 It In actions of trover, or tres Arrears of rent, or interest, not recoverable for more than six years. The rate of interest in general allowed on debts contracted in this Rate of interest. country, is five pounds per cent. per annum, as well in courts of equity as at law b: But, by the Bank acte, a higher rate of interest is allowed to be taken or secured, according to the agreement of the parties, in discounting, negotiating, or transferring a bill of exchange, or promissory note, made payable at or within three months after the date thereof, or not having more than three months to run. should also be observed that, by the statute 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 27, no arrears of rent, or of interest in respect of any sum of money charged upon or payable out of any land or rent, or in respect of any legacy, or any damages in respect of such arrears of rent or "interest, shall be recovered by any distress, action, or suit, but "within six years next after the same respectively shall have become "due, or next after an acknowledgment of the same in writing shall "have been given to the person entitled thereto, or his agent, signed by the person by whom the same was payable, or his agent." In assumpsit or covenant, when the contract is not for the payment When contract of money, but for the doing or forbearing of some other act, the damages depend on the nature of the contract, and whether it relates to the person, or to real or personal property. In assumpsit, on a contract for the purchase of a real estate, to which the title proves defective without any fraud or fault of the vendor, the vendee is in proves defective. general entitled to no satisfaction for the loss of his bargain. And where a vendor, from incapacity to make out a title, fails to complete a contract for the sale of an estate, the purchaser cannot recover as damages, expenses incurred previously to entering into the contract; nor the expense of a survey of the estate; nor the expense of a conveyance, drawn in anticipation of a completion of the purchase; nor the extra costs of a chancery suit, touching the purchase, in 66 a Stat. 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 42. § 29. b 5 Ves. 803. Chit. Bills, 5 Ed. 540; and see Sykes v. Harrison, 1 Bos. & P. 29. Tidd Prac. 9 Ed. 874. d § 42. Flureau v. Thornhill, 2 Blac. Rep. Walker v. Moore, 10 Tidd Prac. 9 Ed. 875. is not for the payment of money. On contract for sale of real estate, when title In action for not accepting goods bought. which the vendor was defeated; nor losses sustained by the purchaser, in the resale of stock purchased for the estatea; but he is entitled to recover the expense of comparing deeds, of searching for judgments, and of journies for that purpose, and interest on his deposit money a. And upon the abandonment of an unwritten contract for the sale of land, on defect of title, the deposit money, and money paid by the purchaser to the auctioneer for the purchaser's moiety of the auction duty, may be recovered; but expenses of investigating the title cannot be recovered, without proof of a written contract binding on the vendor; nor interest upon the deposit b. In an action for not accepting goods bought, the jury are not bound to give the full value of the goods; but the measure of damages is the difference between the price which the defendant had contracted to pay, and the market price at the time when the contract was broken, or what the goods afterwards sold for d. And when a party engages to do certain work on specified terms, and in a specified manner, but in fact does not perform the work so as to correspond with the specification, he is not of course entitled to recover the price agreed upon; nor can he recover according to the actual value of the work, as if there had been no special contract; but what the plaintiff in such case is entitled to recover is the price agreed upon, subject to a deduction; and the measure of that deduction is the sum which it would take to alter the work, so as to make it correspond with the specification. In an action on an agreement not under seal, where under seal, with the agreement contained a clause that the party neglecting to comply with his part of the agreement, should pay the sum of £100, mutually agreed upon to be the damages ascertained and fixed on breach thereof, Lord Tenterden, Ch. J. held that the party making default was not liable beyond the damage actually sustained. In an action on a replevin bond, the sureties are only liable for the value of the When work is not done according to contract. In action on agreement not penalty for its non-perform ance. In action on replevin bond. 3 Hodges v. Earl of Litchfield, 1 Bing. b Gosbell v. Archer, 4 Nev. & M. 485. Boorman v. Nash, 9 Barn. & C. 145. De Sewhanberg v. Buchanan, 5 Car. & P. 343. per Tindal, Ch. J. d Smee v. Huddlestone, T. 8 Geo. III. C. P. Say. Dam. 49. Thornton v. Place, 1 Moody & R. 218, 19. per Parke, J.; and see Orme v. Broughton, 10 Bing. 533. 4 Moore & S. 417. S. C. Rosc. Evid. 2 Ed. 221, 2. f Randal v. Everest, 1 Moody & M. 41. 2 Car. & P. 577. S. C.; and see Staniforth v. Lyall, 7 Bing. 169. Horner v. Graves, 5 Moore & P. 768. 7 Bing. 735. S. C.; but see Crisdee v. Bolton, 3 Car. & P. 240. Icely v. Grew, 6 Nev. & M. 467; and see Kemble v. Farren, 3 Moore & P. 425. 6 Bing. 141. 3 Car. & P. 624. (a.) S. C. bond of ancestor. goods seized, and double costs; and if that value exceed the amount of rent due, they will only be liable for the renta. In an action Against heir, on against an heir, on the bond of his ancestor, the defendant pleaded riens per discent, and the plaintiffs replied, under the statute, that the defendant had assets, &c. before the action commenced, concluding with a verification; and the jury having assessed the damages, under the condition of the bond, at a larger amount than the amount of the lands descended, the court held that the execution for debt and costs must be confined to the value of the lands descended b. In an action brought in England, to recover the value of a given sum Jamaica currency, upon a judgment obtained in that island, the value is that sum in sterling money which the currency would have produced, according to the actual rate of exchange between Jamaica and England, at the date of the judgment. And where the defendants were under an agreement to pay the plaintiffs the value of certain billettes, issued by the Peruvian government, as a compensation for injury done to the plaintiffs, and purporting to be of the value of 16,011 dollars, the court held that the prothonotary was to estimate the value, as the value of a bill of exchange for the same number of dollars, on a house of respectability at Lima, although the billettes were at a great discount d On foreign judg ment, for value of currency, &c. In an action of trover, the general rule is, that the damages should In trover. be the value of the thing taken; and if the defendant only plead that he did not convert the goods, his counsel will not be allowed to cross examine the plaintiff's witnesses, to shew, in mitigation of damages, that the goods taken really belonged to a third person. trover for a lost bank note, the acceptance of part of the produce does not affirm the taking, so as to waive the tort; but the amount received will go in reduction of damages. And where A. as a cloak for an usurious loan, purchased malt of B. for ready money, which he immediately resold to B. at an advanced price payable in bills, the malt to be held by A. as a security; B. having demanded the malt, without paying the bills, the court held that he might recover in trover the full value of the malt, without deduction a Hunt v. Round, 2 Dowl. Rep. 558. 8 Leg. Obs. 428, 9. S. C. per Patteson, J. b Brown v. Shuker, 2 Cromp. & J. 311. Tyr. Rep. 320. S. C. Scott v. Bevan, 2 Barn. & Ad. 78. 5 Moore & P. 446. (a.) S. C. cited. d Delegal v. Naylor, 7 Bing. 460. 5 Moore & P. 443. S. C. And see further, as to damages in actions on contracts, Tidd Prac. 9 Ed. 871, &c. * Finch v. Blount, 7 Car. & P. 478. Burn v. Morris, 4 Tyr. Rep. 485. 2 Cromp. & M. 579. S. C. or recouper of the money received by him upon the simulated sale a. But, in an action of trover, the plaintiff cannot it seems recover damages for the deterioration of the property, while detained by the defendant b. If trover be brought by the assignees of a bankrupt against the sheriff, to try the validity of a sale under an execution, and it appear that the defendant had a probable cause for taking the goods, and that they were fairly sold for as much as they would justly have produced if sold under the commission, it often happens that a jury considers the sum at which the goods were actually sold, as a fair measure of damages c. It has been doubted, however, whether, in an action of trover by the assignees of a bankrupt, for seizing goods of the bankrupt, the defendant may, without specially pleading them, give in evidence payments necessarily made by him out of the proceeds, in reduction of the damages . In an action against the sheriff, for taking insufficient pledges in replevin, the sheriff is liable in damages to the extent of double the value of the goods distrained, but no further. Where the defendant had wrongfully seized goods, and placed a man in possession of them for some days, the court of Common Pleas held that the owner might recover damages, although he had the use of the goods all the time. But where a distress is sold without the previous appraisement directed by the 2 W. & M. sess. 1. c. 5. § 2. the party distrained on can only recover the value, minus the amount of rent due, though he may recover the special damage sustained by such illegal sale 8. In an action of trespass and false imprisonment, brought against a private individual, for giving the plaintiff in charge to a constable, a Hargreaves v. Hutchinson, 4 Nev. & M. 11. 2 Ad. & E. 12. S. C.; and for the doctrine of recouper, see 4 Nev. & M. 13. (c.) b Quailey v. Edwick, 9 Leg. Obs. 75, 6. d Goldsmid v. Raphael, 3 Scott, 385. 218. Ward v. Henley, 1 Younge & J. 285. Paul v. Goodluck, 2 Bing. N. R. 220. 1 Hodges, 370. S. C. Hall v. Goodricke, 2 Scott, 363. S. C. Jeffery v. Bastard, 6 Nev. & M. 303. 2 Har. & W. 60. S. C. Bayliss u. Fisher, (or Baylis v. Usher,) 7 Bing. 153. 4 Moore & P. 790. S. C. Briggins or Biggins v. Goode, 2 Tyr. Rep. 447. 2 Cromp. & J. 364. S. C.; and see Knotts (or Notts) v. Curtis, 5 Car. & P. 322. 2 Tyr. Rep. 449. (a.) S. C. Proudlove v. Twemlow, 1 Cromp. & M. 326. 3 Tyr. Rep. 260. S. C. Wells v. Moody, 7 Car. & P. 59. per Parke, B.; and as to the measure of damages, in an action for an excessive distress of growing |