terest as has accrued upon the principal thus extinguished at the time of the payment. For instance a bond or note is given for the payment of one hundred dollars on or before the termination of one year, with interest. At the end of six months a payment of fifty-one dollars and fifty cents is made. This is not applied to sink the balance of the principal to forty-eight dollars and fifty cents, but the one dollar and fifty cents is applied to the interest of fifty dollars for six months, and fifty dollars to sink so much of the principal. At the end of the year there will be due fifty dollars of principal and the interest on that fifty dollars for one year.

The statute fixing the rate of interest is not an act of usury, technically so-called. It does not avoid the contract, except as to the excess of interest over the lawful rate.

Contracts for interest made in other States, when it is sought to enforce them in this State, must be governed by the law of the State where the contract was made-the validity of the agreement depending upon the lex loci of the contract.

Questions-What is said of the rate of interest allowable in Ohio? What is the rule for calculating interest? Give an illustration? What is the effect of a contract for excessive interest? What is said of contracts for interest made in other States?

CHAPTER LXI.

APPROPRIATION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY TO PUBLIC USE-EMINENT DOMAIN.

Provision is made by law by which the property of others may be appropriated to the use of the public.

The constitution provides as follows: "Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but subservient to the public welfare. When taken in time of war or other public exigency, imperatively requiring its immediate seizure, or for the purpose of making or repairing roads, which shall be open to the public without charge, a compensation shall be made to the owner in money; and in all other cases where private property shall be taken for public use, a compensation therefor shall first be made in money, or first secured by a deposite of money, and such compensation shall be assessed by a jury, without deduction for benefits to any property of the owner."

The interests of individuals in property are traceable to the government; and in this country the aggregate body of the people in their sovereign capacity constitute the government. It is true that the government grants to individuals the right to take and appropriate estates as their own; and yet the doctrine has always been recognized that the eminent domain, the right which the government retains over the estates of individuals, is a sufficient warrant for resuming such estates for public

use.

The title to much of the lands in this country has been

derived from the Federal government and not from the State; and it would therefore seem that the Federal rather than the State government would be justified in the exercise of the power of eminent domain. But inasmuch as under our somewhat anomalous or at least peculiar system, each State is charged with the protection of its citizens in their persons and property, it has been held that the character of sovereignty in the State necessary to enable it to discharge its functions properly in that respect, requires that the power of eminent domain shall pertain to and reside in the State government. This being so, it will be seen that the right is founded more in the necessity growing out of our relations to each other and to society than of a mere implied reservation in the grantor, where the government grants the estate.

Eminent domain may defined as the inherent right necessarily resting in every sovereignty to control and regulate the relative rights of individuals where those rights are of a public nature and pertain to its citizens in common. This being so, no constitutional provision is necessary to give it force. The power is not born of written constitutions but is usually limited by them. It therefore follows that the people, through their representatives are to determine the question as to the propriety and expediency of exercising this right.

In the case of Giesy vs. C. W. & Z. R. R. Co., 4 Ohio State Reports, the supreme court held as follows, in relation to the power of eminent domain:

"It may be used to appropriate lands for a public highway of any kind, and this whether the road is built and owned by the public or by a corporation as a public

instrumentality, provided it is kept open for public use as a matter of right, or, according to the nature of the work, the corporation is made a common carrier of goods or of

passengers.

"It may be exercised directly or indirectly by the General Assembly, without the intervention of the judiciary, except the determining the amount of compensation. But the courts possess full power to determine its proper limit, and to prevent abuses in its exercise.

"The power rests upon necessity, and can only be exercised where such necessity exists. But this necessity relates rather to the nature of the property, and the uses to which it is applied, than to the exigencies of the particular case; and it is no objection to the exercise of the power, that lands, equally feasible, could be obtained by purchase.

"Only such interest as will answer the public wants can be taken; and it can be held only so long as it is used by the public, and cannot be diverted to any other purpose."

Questions-What provision is made in the State constitution relative to the taking of private property for public use? To what source are the property interests of individuals traceable? What right does the government retain over the estates of individuals? What is said of the exercise of the power of eminent domain by the Federal and State governments?

CHAPTER LXII.

SALARIES OF STATE OFFICERS.

The several officers herein named, receive for their services the following sums annually: Governor, $4,000; lieutenant-governor, $800; judges of the supreme court, each, $3,000; judges of the common pleas courts, each, $2,500; secretary of state, $2,000; treasurer of state, $3,000; auditor of state, $3,000; attorney-general, $1,500, and three per centum on all collections made by him for the State; provided, the aggregate amount of his compensation including said per centum, shall not exceed $2,000 per annum, during the term of his office; members of the board of public works, each, $800 and no more, in the form of traveling expenses or otherwise; the comptroller of the treasury, $1,700; state librarian, $1,500; state commissioner of common schools, $2,000.

Officers of the penitentiary receive the following salaries: Warden, $2,000; deputy warden, $1,800; clerk, $1,500; assistant clerk, in the discretion of the board of directors, not exceeding $1,000; matron, $800; steward, $1,500; physician, $800; chaplain, $1,500. Other officers of the penitentiary are paid from $45 to $75 per month.

Officers of the benevolent institutions are paid from $300 to $1,200 per annum.

Members of the General Assembly receive, each, five dollars per day, during their attendance at the General Assembly, and also the sum of three dollars for every