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Interest, what.

Annual rate.

Legal interest.

Same.

no usury law has ever been enacted, but the rate of interest has always been left to rest in contract, except that fixed by law upon debts due and judgments obtained. Lord Hale (see Hard. Rep., p. 420) is reported to have said that only Jewish usury, forty per cent and more, was prohibited at common law.— Edw. on Bailm., p. 263. The rule allowing and implying a contract to pay interest is natural and equitable. 1915. Reward for the loan, forbearance, or use of money or its equivalent is called interest.

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NOTE.-Interest is defined by Bouvier, p. 733, Vol. I, to be the compensation which is paid by the borrower of money to the lender for its use, and, generally, by a debtor to his creditor, in recompense for his detention of the debt.

1916. When a rate of interest is prescribed by a law or contract, without specifying the period of time by which such rate is to be calculated, it is to be deemed an annual rate.

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NOTE. This prevents any misunderstanding in cases of omission, and conforms to the general custom of borrowing and loaning, though in this State the custom most prevalent has been a monthly rate of interest.

1917. Under an obligation to pay interest, no rate being specified, interest is payable at the rate of ten per cent per annum, and in like proportion for a longer or shorter time; but in the computation of interest for less than a year, three hundred and sixty days are deemed to constitute a year.

NOTE.-Stats. 1868, p. 533, Sec. 7; 1870, p. 699, Sec. 1. The change from seven to ten per cent, in the cases put in the text, was made in 1870.

1918. Parties may agree in writing for the payment of any rate of interest, and it shall be allowed, according to the terms of the agreement, until the entry of judgment.

NOTE.-Stats. 1868, p. 553, Sec. 2; 1870, p. 699, Sec. 1.

1919. The parties may, in any contract in writing whereby any debt is secured to be paid, agree that if

becomes

principal,

when.

the interest on such debt is not punctually paid, it Interest shall become a part of the principal, and thereafter part of bear the same rate of interest as the principal debt. NOTE.-Stats. 1850, p. 92, Sec. 3. This legalizes compound interest.

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judgment.

1920. No judgment in any Court of this State Interest on shall draw interest at a rate to exceed seven per cent

per annum.

Interest must not be compounded in any

manner or form on a judgment.

NOTE. This conforms to the amendment of the Act

of 1868, p. 553, as made in 1870, p. 699, Sec. 1.

TITLE V.

HIRING.

CHAPTER I. Hiring in General.
II. Hiring of Real Property.

III. Hiring of Personal Property.

CHAPTER I.

HIRING IN GENERAL.

SECTION 1925. Hiring, what.

1926. Products of thing.

1927. Quiet possession.

1928. Degree of care, etc., on part of hirer.

1929. Must repair injuries, etc.

1930. Thing let for a particular purpose.

1931. When letter may terminate the hiring.

1932. When hirer may terminate the hiring.

1933. When hiring terminates.

1934. When terminated by death, etc., of party.
1935. Apportionment of hire.

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1925. Hiring is a contract by which one gives to Hiring. another the temporary possession and use of property,

Products of thing.

Quiet possession.

other than money, for reward, and the latter agrees to return the same to the former at a future time.

NOTE.-Edw. Bailm., p. 37. Hiring termed in the civil law "locatio conductio," is a bailment of goods, always for a reward, and includes the hire of things for use. "Locatio rei," such as hiring horses and carriages for a journey, is a bailment of property which renders the bailee responsible for ordinary neglect.— Millon vs. Salisbury, 13 J. R., p. 211; id., Chap. 6, p. 274; Story Contracts, Secs. 729-734. Story Bailm., Sec. 8, divides all hiring into four sorts: 1. The hiring of a thing for use, locatio rei; 2. The hiring of work or labor, locatio operis faciendi; 3. The hiring of care and services to be performed or bestowed on the thing delivered, locatio custodiæ; and 4. The hiring of the carriage of goods, locatio operis mercium vehendarum, All these are from the civil law. Upon the subject of hiring in general, see Story Bailm., Sec. 371, et seq., and notes; see, also, note to Sec. 1928, post. Story on Bailm., Chap. 6, Sec. 368, gives as a translation, not literal, however, of the Roman law definition, the following: "It is a contract whereby the use of a thing (or the services and labor of a person), are stipulated to be given for a certain reward."-Pothier, Contrat de Louage, n. 1. Lord Holt defines it: "Where goods are left with the bailee to be used by him for hire."Coggs vs. Bunard, 2 Ld. Raym., pp. 909-913.

1926. The products of a thing hired, during the hiring, belong to the hirer.

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NOTE.-Putnam vs. Wyley, 8 Johns., p. 435. The increase of a flock hired for a term belongs to the person who hired them.-Edw. Bailm., p. 324. Accession."-8 John. R., p. 435; Wood vs. Ash, Owen R., p. 138; Bellows vs. Denison, 9 N. Hamp. R., p. 293; Allen vs. Allen, 2 Penn., p. 166. So the increase of cattle.-La. Code, Articles 536, 537, and 539. See Sec. 732, ante, when the thing is not hired.

1927. An agreement to let upon hire binds the letter to secure to the hirer the quiet possession of the thing hired during the term of the hiring, against all persons lawfully claiming the same.

NOTE.-Vernam vs. Smith, 15 N. Y., p. 327; Story Bailm., Sec. 383. The letter, by the Roman, or civil law, founded in good reason (as taken from Pothier,

Domat, Co. Civ., France, and other authors given in
Note 2, Sec. 383, id.), impliedly engages "to allow to
hirer full use and enjoyment of the thing hired, and to
fulfill his own engagements and trusts in respect to it
according to the original intention of the parties." See
the implications herein embraced (id.), fully sustaining
the text.

1928. The hirer of a thing must use ordinary care Degree of for its preservation in safety and in good condition.

NOTE.-Edw. Bailm., p. 312. The engagements of the party taking a thing to hire conductor rei, are to put the thing to no other use than that for which it is hired; to use it well; to take care of it; to restore it at the time appointed; to pay the price or hire; and in general to observe whatever is prescribed by the contract, or by law, or by custom. The bailment being one of mutual benefit, the hirer is only responsible for that degree of diligence which all prudent men use in their own affairs. The man who hires a horse is bound to ride it moderately, and treat it as carefully as any man of common discretion would his own, and to supply it with suitable food. See, also, as to same points, Story Bailm., Sec. 97. Without reference to particular kinds of hiring, and which for peculiar reasons involve the most rigid degree of responsibility, "a bailee for hire is bound to use ordinary diligence and care in the protection of the property hired, which will vary in degree according to the nature of the property and the circumstances in which it is placed."-2 Hil. on Torts, p. 525, Chap. 44, Sec. 8; Swigert vs. Graham, 7 B. Mon., p. 661; Logan vs. Mathews, 6 Barr, p. 417; Runyon vs. Caldwell, 7 Humph., p. 134; Dudgeon vs. Teasse, 9 Mo., p. 857; McConike vs. N. Y., etc., 20 N. Y. (6 Smith), p. 495; Slocumb vs. Washington, 6 Jones, p. 357; Knox vs. North, etc., 6 Jones, p. 415; Tallahasse, etc., vs. Macon, 8 Fla., p. 299; Townsend vs. Hill, 18 Texas, p. 422; Dement vs. Scott, 2 Head., p. 367. The civil law, as laid down by Pothier, is in exact conformity with the common law, "that the hirer is bound only for ordinary diligence, and is liable only for ordinary negligence."

care, etc., on part of hirer.

1929. The hirer of a thing must repair all dete- Must riorations or injuries thereto occasioned by his ordi- injuries

nary negligence.

NOTE.-Story on Bailm., Secs. 398, 408-413; 2 Hil. on Torts, p. 525, Note 8b.

repair

etc.

Thing let for a particular purpose.

When

letter may

1930. When a thing is let for a particular purpose the hirer must not use it for any other purpose; and if he does, the letter may hold him responsible for its safety during such use in all events, or may treat the contract as thereby rescinded.

1931.

NOTE. This is an established rule as to personal property.-Fish vs. Ferris, 5 Duer, p. 49; Story Bailm., Sec. 43; Columbus vs. Howard, 6 Geo., p. 213; Duncan vs. R. R. Co., 2 Rich. L., p. 613; see Harrington vs. Snyder, 3 Barb., p. 380. It may be doubted whether the same rule is applied to real property. One who hires chattels for use must confine himself to the use for which he stipulates.-Edw. Bailm., p. 313.

The letter of a thing may terminate the terminate hiring and reclaim the thing before the end of the term agreed upon:

the hiring.

When hirer may

the hiring.

1. When the hirer uses or permits a use of the thing hired in a manner contrary to the agreement of the parties; or,

2. When the hirer does not, within a reasonable time after request, make such repairs as he is bound to make.

NOTE.-Edw. Bailm., p. 331, Tit. "Termination of Contract:" Made in any one of the various ways, which interrupts its continuance and prevents its execution. See, also, Story Bailm., Secs. 418-420.

1932. The hirer of a thing may terminate the terminate hiring before the end of the term agreed upon : 1. When the letter does not, within a reasonable time after request, fulfill his obligations, if any, as to placing and securing the hirer in the quiet possession of the thing hired, or putting it into good condition, or repairing; or,

2. When the greater part of the thing hired, or that part which was and which the letter had at the time of the hiring reason to believe was the material inducement to the hirer to enter into the contract, per

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