place (g), or within a reasonable distance from any particular place (h), for he may carry on his trade elsewhere; nor is a contract void which restrains a person from serving a particular class of customers (i) (for there are plenty of others to be found), or which binds a person to be the servant for life in his trade to another (k), for this is not in restraint of trade when it is to be carried on for his life. In a recent case (1) a person agreed that he would become assistant to a dentist for four years, and that after the expiration of that term he would not carry on the business of a dentist in London, or in any of the towns or places in England or Scotland where the dentist might have been practising before the expiration of the service. And it was held that the covenant not to practise in London was valid; but that the stipulation as to the other towns and places in England or Scotland was void. And according to the rule above mentioned (m), that where some of the objects of a contract are lawful and others unlawful, the unlawful objects will not vitiate the others, it was held that the stipulation as to practising in London was not affected by the illegality of the remainder of the agreement. The cases in which contracts may be void in consequence of their contravening some acts of parliament are too numerous to be here specified. As an instance Charges on may be mentioned contracts by clergymen holding benefices with cure of souls, made for the purpose of (g) Hitchcock v. Coker, 6 Ad. & Ell. 438; S. C. 1 Nev. & P. 796; Archer v. Marsh, 6 Ad. & Ell. 959; S. C. 2 Nev. & P. 562; Leighton v. Wales, 3 Mee. & Wels. 545. (h) Davis v. Mason, 5 T. Rep. 118; Proctor v. Sergeant, 2 Man. & Gr. 20; S. C. 2 Scott, N. R. 289; Whittaker v. Howe, 3 Beav. 383. (i) Rannie v. Irvine, 7 Man. & Gr. 969. (k) Wallis v. Day, 2 Mee. & Wels. 273. (1) Mallan v. May, 11 Mee. & Wels. 653. See also Green v. Price, 13 Mee. & Wels. 695, affirmed, 15 Mee. & Wels. 346. (m) Ante, p. 77. benefices. Act. Securities for money won at play. charging such benefices with any sum of money; which contracts are rendered void by a statute of Elizabeth (n). And in these cases it has been held that any personal covenant for the payment of the money charged, is not invalidated by being contained in the same deed as the attempted charge on the benefice (o). Contracts for the sale or transfer of stock, of which the person contracting is not possessed at the time, and of which no transfer is intended to be made, are void by the Stock Jobbing Stock Jobbing Act (p); and money lent for the purpose of settling losses which have arisen from such illegal contracts cannot be recovered back (g). Securities for money won at play or any game, or by betting on any game, or for money lent for gaming or betting at the time and place of such play, were declared by a statute of Anne to be utterly void (r); but by a later statute (s) such securities are not to be utterly void, but are to be taken to have been given for an illegal consideration; they are consequently now void only as between the parties, but valid in the hands of any innocent holder, to whom they may have been transferred without notice of the illegality of the transaction in which they originated (t). And by a more recent statute (u) it is enacted, that all contracts or agreements, whether by parol or in writing, by way of gaming or wagering, shall be null and void; and that no suit shall be brought or maintained in any court of law or equity for recovering any sum of money or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager, or which shall have been deposited in the hands of any person to Contracts by way of gaming or wagering void. (n) Stat. 13 Eliz. c. 20. See Shaw v. Pritchard, 10 Barn. & Cress. 241. (0) Monys v. Leake, 8 T. Rep. 411; Sloane v. Packman, 11 Mee. & Wels. 770. (p) Stat. 7 Geo. II. c. 8, s. 8. See post, the chapter on Stock. (9) Cannan v. Bryce, 3 Barn. & Ald. 179. (r) Stat. 9 Anne, c. 14. (u) Stat. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, s. 18. tracts. abide the event on which any wager shall have been made. But this enactment is not to apply to any subscription or contribution, or agreement to subscribe or contribute, for or towards any plate, prize or sum of money to be awarded to the winner or winners of any lawful game, sport, pastime or exercise. Contracts for Usurious conthe payment of money, whereby there should be reserved more than five per cent. interest, were in like manner declared void by a statute of Anne, called the Usury Law (x); but in order to protect innocent holders of securities given for usurious consideration, it was subsequently declared that such contracts should not be absolutely void, but should be considered to have been made for an illegal consideration (y). However, by a recent statute (z), which has been continued to the 1st of January, 1851 (a), all bills of exchange and promissory notes made payable at or within twelve months. after the date thereof, or not having more than twelve months to run, and all contracts for the loan or forbearance of money above the sum of 101. sterling, are exempted from the operation of the Usury Law. Nothing therein contained, however, is to extend to the loan or forbearance of any money upon security of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any estate or interest therein. The above enactments are perhaps the most important statutory provisions by which contracts may be vitiated. Contracts whose objects are lawful are endlessly diversified, and many of them are regulated by laws which it is not within the scope of the present work to enumerate. For the breach of any such contract pecuniary damages are, as we have seen (b), the sovereign remedy prescribed (r) Stat. 12 Anne, st. 2, ch. 16. (y) Stat. 5 & 6 Will. IV. C. 41. See Vallance v. Siddel, 6 Ad. & Ell. 932. (z) 2 & 3 Vict. c. 37. See 1 G Contracts with lawful objects. Debts. by law; though equity not unfrequently administers more appropriate specifics. The person to whom money has become due, whether from any injury received, or from any contract broken, or from a contract to pay money itself, stands in a situation more or less advantageous as regards his remedies for recovering the money, according to the nature of the debt which has thus become due to him. For by the law of England all creditors are not allowed equal rights, but are preferred the one to the other, partly according to accidental circumstances, and partly according to the degree of diligence and precaution which each may have used. The subject of debt is of sufficient importance to form a separate chapter. CHAPTER III. OF DEBTS. DEBTS, by the law of England, are divided into different classes, conferring on the creditor different degrees of security for re-payment. The class which confers the highest privileges is that of debts of record, which class will accordingly first claim our attention. of record. A debt of record is a debt due by the evidence of a Debt of record. court of record (a). Every court, by having power given to it to fine and imprison, is thereby made a court of record (b). Such courts are either supreme, superior or inferior. The supreme court is the Parliament. The Superior courts superior courts of record are the House of Lords, the Court of Chancery, and the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, which are the more principal courts. The Courts of the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham are also superior courts of record (c). The Court of Bankruptcy (d) and its subdivision courts (e) seem also to fall within this class, as they exercise and enjoy all the powers and privileges of a court of record, as fully as the courts of law at Westminster. Every commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, when acting in the prosecution of any fiat of -bankruptcy, forms a court of record (ƒ), which appears to be an inferior court. The Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors appears also to be an inferior court of Inferior courts of record. |