168 LEGEND-LEPTON. sterling." "Bank notes are a legal tender for sums above five pounds," in the United Kingdom. No tender of payment is valid unless made in the current coin of the realm or in Bank of England Notes. The meaning of which is, that when a debtor wishes to discharge an obligation, he is bound to do it by the payment of bank notes or by the current coin of the realm, if his creditor demand it. On the other hand, if the creditor refuses to accept the same, his claim on the debtor lapses, provided the tender has been made subject to the following conditions-namely, (1) that no bank note tendered was of less value than five pounds; (2) that the silver did not exceed in value forty shillings; and (3) that the copper or bronze coins did not exceed the value of twelve pence. "By legal tender is denoted such money as a creditor is obliged to receive in requital of a debt expressed in terms of money of the realm."-JEVONS' Money, p. 76. "If a debtor tender to his creditor the amount of a debt due in legal tender money, and it be refused, the creditor may indeed sue for it afterwards, but the costs of the action will be thrown upon him."-Ibid. Legal Tender "does not mean, as many absurdly suppose, that a shopkeeper is obliged to sell for a legal tender note; but the legal tender law compels him to take the note on presentation for a debt recorded in his books."-BONAMY PRICE, Practical Political Economy. Hence a trader may make any contract he likes for gold, silver, or notes. Modifications of Legal Tender (a.) Single Legal Tender System. A Government while emitting various coins in various metals, may ordain that all contracts expressed in money of the realm, shall, in the absence of any express provision to the contrary, be taken to mean money in one kind of metal specially named, while other coin shall be left to circulate at varying market-rates, compared with the principal kind of coinage. (b.) The Government may emit coins of two or more kinds of metal, and enact that contracts may be discharged in one or the other kind, at certain rates fixed by law. This is the Multiple Legal Tender System. (c.) While maintaining one kind of coin as the principal legal tender, in which all large money contracts must be fulfilled, coins of other kinds of metal may be ordered to be received in limited quantities as equivalent to the principal coin. This may be called the Composite Legal Tender System. Legend. Latin, legendum, something to be read from legère, to read. The words inscribed on the face or rim of a coin; the busts or other figures constituting the device. Leopold. A gold coin formerly circulating in Belgium. When first issued it was valued at 25 francs, but is only worth 244 francs of the present coinage, or 19s. 41d. sterling. Lepton, plural Lepta. The one-hundredth part of the Greek Drachma, LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION. 169 and equal to the French centime, in conformity with the requirements of the Latin Monetary Convention. Letters of Administration. (See Administration.) Letter of Allotment. A letter issued in answer to a letter of application for a portion of a public loan, or for shares in a commercial undertaking. The various points of importance in documents of this nature are best illustrated by a specimen. Appended is a copy of the Letter of Allotment" issued to applicants for a portion of the late Egyptian State Domain Loan. с No. 854. * * EGYPTIAN STATE-DOMAIN MORTGAGE BONDS. LONDON, 14th November, 1878. £ In answer to your application, we have allotted to you 500 say Five Hundred Pounds nominal Capital at £73 for each £100 payable as follows: : The first instalment on this exact amount of your deposit, we 100 the allotment being £ have merely to inform you that Scrip Receipts will be prepared as early as possible, and when ready. be delivered against this Letter in due course. A Coupon for the dividend due on the 1st June next, will be attached to the Scrip. We remain, Your obedient Servants, ** In all communications respecting this Letter, please quote this Number. 170 LETTER OF APPLICATION. Letter of Application. A form issued to persons who wish to subscribe towards the capital of a company, or to take part in a Government loan, &c. The following are forms well known in City circles, and give a fair idea of the nature of all similar forms : : FORM OF APPLICATION FOR ALLOTMENT. Payment to be made in Cash only. ROYAL HUNGARIAN 6 PER CENT. RENTES. Issue of £8,000,000 (Eight Million Pounds Sterling) Nominal Capital 6 per Cent. Rentes. To MESSRS. N. M. & Co. GENTLEMEN, say request that you will allot to. nominal Capital of the above Stock, on which deposit of five per Cent., or £. and be allotted to Pounds enclose the agree to accept that amount, or any less sum that may and to pay IN CASH the balance of such allotment according to the conditions of your Prospectus of the 8th LETTER OF CREDIT. 171 RHODES REEF GOLD MINING COMPANY This Form should be sent intact to the Bankers. THE RHODES REEF GOLD MINING COMPANY, LIMITED. me Having paid to your Bankers* the sum of £ being a deposit of 2s. 6d. per Share, I request that you will allot Shares of £1 each in your Company, and I hereby agree to accept the said Shares, or any smaller number which you may allot to me, and I agree to make the payments thereon, and I request you to place my name on the Register of Shareholders in respect of the Shares which may be allotted to me. The £1 per Share is payable-2s. 6d. on application, 7s. 6d. on allotment, 5s. on 15th day of January, 1881, and 5s. on the 15th day of March, 1881. *In the event of no allotment being made to the public, the amount paid on this application is to be returned in full. Letter of Credit. A letter of credit is a letter sent to a distant town, or foreign city, requesting that a certain sum may be placed to the credit, or held at the disposal, of some person named therein. It is not a negotiable instrument, owing to its vagueness. Indeed it has been called the most primitive form of bill. Considering how obscure the origin of trade bills is, it is not improbable that they originated in mere business letters, and were afterwards reduced to the regular form, as found in use among the Lombards and Vene 172 LETTER OF CREDIT. tians. How easy the transition is may be seen by a comparison of the following note sent from London to Glasgow : To Mr. Macfarlane, Glasgow. Dear Sir, : Have the goodness to hand the Secretary of the Glasgow Infirmary the sum of Five Pounds, and debit my account with the same. Yours truly, ROBERT STEPHENS. 66 66 Such a note might be written by any man on friendly terms with another, without a thought or knowledge of such things as bills, negotiable instruments, &c., and yet how near it comes to the form of an inland bill of exchange is obvious to everyone. Doubtless, thousands of such notes have been and are still written by persons who have no knowledge of business in its more complicated aspects. A still more curious foreshadowing of the Letter of Credit is to be found in the Bible. It is the oldest form of letter or bill extant, and is found in 2 Chron. ii. 11, where it is expressly stated that Huram, the king of Tyre, answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon." In this letter is a clause to this effect. Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants: and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem." Here we have a clear case of exchange: on the one side wheat, barley, oil, and wine; on the other, cedar wood, and service. The contract was reduced to writing, and appears to have been honourably fulfilled. Of course the whole document is verbose and vague, but it shows that when antiquarians are looking about for the origin of instruments of exchange, they must be prepared to go a long way back, and traverse very obscure paths. It is commonly said that the Romans made use of writings similar to our modern bills of exchange, or promissory notes, but no specimen has, as yet, been discovered in any extant Latin author, which is a little surprising when we reflect on the completeness of mercantile law in Rome, as illustrated by the Pandects of Justinian and some earlier works on the same topic. (See Circular Letter of Credit.) Form of Letter of Credit. Messrs. Bruce & Co., New York. This letter will be presented to you by Mr. Holland in whose favour we beg to establish a credit for Two Hundred pounds sterling. You will please hold this sum, or any part thereof, at his disposal, less your usual charges, and take in exchange his drafts upon this |