John Stone v. John Mason

John Stone v. John Mason. A public officer who buys a bill of exchange for public use, and agrees to pay for it when it should be duly honored, is not personally responsible Assumpsit, for money had and received. The defendant, as commissary-general of prisoners, received §140 for a draft bn Bermuda. Edward Stone put the draft into the defendant’s hands, and requested him to pay the money, when it should be received, to the plaintiff, of Baltimore. When the money was received at the defendant’s office, his clerk inclosed it in a letter to the plaintiff, directed to him at Baltimore, but it never came to his hands. On a case stated, [MAJORITY — The COURT] The COURT (Thruston, J., absent,) rendered judgment for the defendant, on the ground of his being a public officer; and it being a public contract to buy a bill for public use.