Penalty for using weights or measures that do not conform to standard. Same ¿ 27. Oath defini scales. tion of public 10 G. A. ch. 56. 1. Make correct weights: keep certificate. ered. And in every such action in which judgment shall be rendered for the plaintiff, he shall recover double costs. SEC. 2064. If any person or persons shall hereafter use any weights, measures, beams, or other apparatus, for determining quantity of commodities, which shall not be conformable to the standards of this state, in any counties whose standards have been obtained by the board of supervisors, or in any city or incorporated town after such standards have been obtained therein, whereby any person shall be injured or defrauded, he shall be subject to a fine not exceeding five dollars for each offense, to be sued for and collected by the city, county or town sealer. He shall also be subject to an action at law, in which the defrauded person shall recover treble damages and costs, and every person keeping any store, grocery, or other place, for the sale or purchase of such commodities as are usually sold by weight or measure, shall, once in each year, procure the weights and measures used by him to be compared with the standard herein provided; and he shall be subject to a fine of five dollars for every neglect to comply with this provision, to be recovered by any one who shall prosecute therefor. WEIGHMASTERS OF PUBLIC SCALES. SEC. 2065. All persons keeping public scales, before entering upon their duties as weighmasters, shall be sworn before some person having authority to administer an oath, to keep their scales correctly balanced; to make true weights; and to render a correct account to the person or persons having weighing done. Every scale shall be deemed a public one for the use of which a charge is made. SEC. 2066. All weighmasters are required to make true weights and to keep a correct register of all weighing done by them, givregister: give ing the amount of each weight, date of weighing, and the name of the person or persons for whom such weighing was done, and to give upon demand, to any person or persons having weighing done, a certificate, showing the weight, date of weighing, and for whom weighed. Same, ¿ 2. For weighing stock or grain: standard pro14 G. A. ch. 129, cured, é 1. Penalty. 10 G. A. ch. 56, 73. SEC. 2007. Weighmasters, or keepers of public scales kept for the purpose of weighing stock or grain, shall provide and keep a standard of weight not less than fifty pounds avoirdupois for the purpose of testing such scales, and they shall at least once a month, or oftener if requested, make a satisfactory test of the correctness of such scales. SEC. 2068. Any weighmaster, or keeper of public scales, violating any of the provisions of the two preceding sections, upon complaint made before any justice of the peace having 14 G. A. ch. 129, jurisdiction of the offense, may, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not more than twenty dollars and not less than five dollars for each offense, and shall be liable to the person or persons injured, for the full amount of damages by them sustained. 22. Inspector ap- OF THE INSPECTION OF SHINGLES AND LUMBER. SEC. 2069. The board of supervisors of each county, as often as may be necessary, shall appoint one inspector of lumber and shingles, who shall have the power to appoint one or more deputies to act under him. For the conduct of the deputies, the prin cipal shall be liable. R. 1907. SEC. 2070. Before any inspector, or deputy inspector, shall Oath: bond of. enter upon the duties of his office, he shall take an oath or affirmation that he will faithfully and impartially execute the duties required of him by law; and each inspector shall, moreover, enter into a bond with sufficient security to be approved by the county auditor, in such sum as the board of supervisors may require, made payable to the state of Iowa, which bond shall be deposited with the treasurer of the county, conditioned for the faithful and impartial performance of his duties, as required by law. SEC. 2071. Any person who may think himself aggrieved by suit on bond. the incapacity, neglect, or misconduct of such inspector or his R. 1908. deputy, may institute a suit on a copy of the bond certified by the treasurer in his own name. And in case the persons suing shall obtain judgment, he may have execution as in other cases; but the suit shall be commenced within one year after the cause of action accrues. 1909. SEC. 2072. The inspectors or their deputies, within their Duties of inrespective counties, shall inspect all lumber, boards, and shingles, on application made to them for that purpose; and when inspected, stamp on the lumber, boards, and shingles, with branding irons made for that purpose, the name of the state and county where inspected, and the kind and quality of the articles inspected, which branding iron shall be made and lettered as directed by the board of supervisors. And every inspector shall make, in a book for that purpose, fair and distinct entries of articles inspected by him or his deputies, with the names of the persons for whom said articles were inspected. counterfeiting. SEC. 2073. If any person shall coun erfeit the aforesaid brands Penalty for or marks, or either of them, upon conviction thereof, he shall be R. 1911. deemed guilty of forgery, and shall be punished accordingly. See § 3935. gles: how R. 1912. SEC. 2014. A lawful shingle shall be sixteen inches in length, Size of shinfour inches wide, and half an inch thick at the butt end; and all branded: divilumber shall be divided into four qualities, and shall be designated sion of lumber. clear, first common, second common, and refusal. Shingles shall be clear of sap, and designated as first and second quality. The shingles to be branded on each bundle with the quality and the name of the inspector. CHAPTER 2. MONEY OF ACCOUNT AND INTEREST. SECTION 2075. The money of account of this state is the dol- How expressed. lar, cent, mill, and all public accounts and the proceedings of all R. 1783. courts in relation to money, shall be kept and expressed in of the above denomination. money [The word "counts "in the third line of the section, as it stands in the C. 51, 943. Same. C. '51, 944. Interest rate of. R. & 1787. printed code, is changed to "courts" in accordance with the list of "errata" in that volume.] SEC. 2076. The above provisions shall not in any manner affect any demand expressed in money of another denomination, but such demand, in any suit or proceeding affecting the same, shall be reduced to the above denomination. SEC. 2077. The rate of interest shall be six cents on the hundred by the year, on: 1. Money due by express contract; C. 51, 945. On judgments C. 5. 946. Prohibition. 4. Money received to the use of another, and retained beyond a reasonable time without the owner's consent, express or implied; 5. Money due on the settlement of matured accounts from the day the balance is ascertained; 6. Money due upon open accounts after six months from the date of the last item; 7. Money due, or to become due, where there is a contract to pay interest, and no rate is stipulated. In all of the cases above contemplated parties may agree in writing for the payment of interest not exceeding ten cents on the hundred by the year. [The word "rate" in the first line, as in the original, is "rule" in the printed code.] A note providing for interest at ten per cent. per annum from date, draws interest at that rate after as well as before maturity: Hand v. Armstrong, 18-324; Lucas v. Pickel, 20-490. is not made payable annually or at a specified time, it will not draw interest even from the time of the maturity of the principal: Aspinwall v. Blake, 25-319. Where the interest on a note is The parties may, by contract, stipmade payable annually, each install-ulate that interest which is made payment of interest will draw interest at able annually, quarterly, or otherwise, six per cent. from the time it is pay- shall bear interest at ten per cent. able: Mann v. Cross, 9-327; Pres- from the time it is due: Ragan v. ton v. Walker, 26-205; Burrows v. Day, 46-239. Stryker, 47-477; but if the interest SEC. 2078. Interest shall be allowed on all moneys due on judgments and decrees of any competent court or tribunal, at the rate of six cents on the hundred by the year, unless a different rate is fixed by the contract on which the judgment or decree is rendered; in which case the judgment or decree shall draw interest at the rate expressed in the contract, not exceeding ten cents on the hundred by the year, which rate must be expressed in the judgment or decree. It is necessary that the rate of interest be "expressed in the contract" in order to authorize a judgment bearing a greater rate of interest than six per cent.; therefore, held, that, although, as it seems, coupons made in lowa, but payable in New York, in which no rate of interest is specified, would draw interest from maturity at seven per cent. (the rate in the latter state), yet a judgment in Iowa upon such coupons could only draw interest at the rate of six per cent.: Rogers v. Lee Co., 1 Dillon (U. S. C. C.), 529. SEC. 2079. No person shall, directly or indirectly, receive in money, goods, or things in action, or in any other manner, any greater sum of value for the loan of money, or upon contract founded upon any bargain, sale, or loan of real or personal property than is in this chapter prescribed. EXTENSION; RENEWAL; FORBEARANCE: The extensio of time of a loan is a loan within the meaning of the usury laws, and a new note given by the surety to obtain an extension of time on the original undertaking would be usurious: Kendig v. Linn, 47-62. A note given in payment of a balance due on a usurious note is itself usurious, for the debtor has the right to have all payments made on the original note in discharge of usurious interest applied upon the principal: National Bank of Winterset v. Eyre, 52-114, Callanan v. Shaw, 24-441, Garth v. Cooper, 12 364. But if money be borrowed to pay off a usurious debt, the lender, even with notice, is not affected by the usury in the original debt: Wendlebone v. Parks, 18-546. An agreement, after the maturity of a note, to pay more than a legal rate of interest for forbearance, does not affect the note, but such contract itselt is usurious, and anything paid thereon will be applied as general payment on the note: Mallett v. Stone, 17-64. PLACE OF CONTRACTING: Where a contract is made in one state to be performed in another, the parties may stipulate that interest shall be calculated according to the laws of the place of performance: Butters v. Olds, 11-1. In such cases the parties may adopt the rules of either state as to interest; and where the note was executed in one state, to be performed in another, and the maker resided in still another state, and the property pledged as security was there situated held, that the law of that state might be adopted as to interest, provided such provision was not resorted to me ely as a means of evading the usury law: Arnold v. Poiter, 22-194. A note executed and dated in Missouri, but delivered, and the consideration ther of received, in Iowa, held, an Iowa contract and subject to the Iowa law as to usury: Hart v. Wills, 52-56, AGREEMENTS AS TO PENALTY FOR NON-PAYMENT OF MONEY WHEN DUE: An agreement to pay a sum of money by a day certain, and more than legal interest afterwards, by way of penalty, if the debt be not paid when due, is not usurious: Wright v. Shuck, Mor., 425: Shuck v. Wright, 1 Gr., 128; Gower v. Carter, 3-244; Wilson v. Dean, 10-432; Conrad v. Gibbon, 29–120. But in such cases the court will not allow a recovery, either by way of penalty or liquidated damages, of more than a legal rate of interest for the failure to pay when due: Gower v. Carter, supra; Vennum v. Gregory, 21-326. A provision in a note that, if not paid when due, the principal shall draw interest at ten per cent. from date, will not constitute usury unless it be shown that interest is included in the face of the note. But if interest is so included, the parties will not be allowed, by thus liquidating the damages for the mere non-payment of money. to evade the usury law: Fisher v. Anderson, 25-28. DISCOUNT AND EXCHANGE: The charging of exchange in addition to legal interest in discounting foreign bills of exchange is not usury unless resorted to for the purpose of covering up a usurious transaction; but it is otherwise as to domestic bills: Burrows v. Cook, 17-436. The sale of a note, not usurious, by the payee, at a greater rate of discount than legal interest, will not constitute usury: Dickerman v. Day, 31-444; and the same rule will hold as to an accommodation note, unless the purchaser has knowledge of the character of the paper: Ibid. COMMISSIONS AND ATTORNEY'S FEES: The act of an agent for the loan of money in exacting a commission for himself, beyond the legal rate of interest, without authority or consent of his principal, will not render the loan usurious: Gokey v. Knapp, 44-32; Brigham v. Myers, 51-397. But a party making a loan to another, in person, cannot, under the name of commission, exact more than a legal rate of interest: Pond v. Waterloo Agricultural Works, 50596. A stipulation for reasonable attorney's fees, to be taxed up as part of the costs in case of suit, does not constitute usury: Nelson v. Everett, 29-184; Weatherby v. Smith, 30131. MONEY PAID AS USURIOUS INTEREST: Where there is no contract for an illegal rate of interest, the mere receiving of such interest will not render the contract itself usurious, but the receiving of the usurious in R. 21791. terest is unlawful and the amount so Úsurious interest voluntarily paid 23-185; Gilmore v. Ferguson, 28–220. The word "contract" as used in this section refers to the entire transaction in which usurious interest has been reserved. The substitution of one contract for another or the substitution of a new note for an old one will not purge the usury: Smith v. Coopers, 9-376; Campbell v. McHarg, 9-354. An indorsement on a usurious note by the holder thereof of the usurious interest therein reserved will not purge such note of usury, unless the debtor concur therein so as to make virtually a new contract: National Bank, etc., v. Eyre, 52-114. Where there is no evidence of an intent or agreement to contract for usurious interest, a jury would not be justified in finding usury: Jones v. Berryhill, 25-289. 45–527. IN GENERAL: The provisions of this section apply, not only to contracts for loans but also to any contract of purchase or sale of property where an unlawful rate of interest is provided for: Callanan v. Shaw, A note executed to secure a loan 24-441. But a party may lawfully of gold at a higher rate of premium sell property on time for a larger sum than the market value of the gold, than his cash price, with lawful in-held, usurious: Austin v. Walker, terest thereon to the time of payment, would amount to; therefore held, that a sale of sheep for a sum to be paid at a future day, wherein it was agreed to pay, annually, two pounds of wool per sheep until time of payment (the value of the wool being greater than legal interest on the sum to be paid) was not usurious, in the absence of any showing that there was an intention to evade the usury law: First, etc., Bank v. Owen, The Code of 1851 repealed all usury laws in existence at that time, and until the passage of the act of 1853, which was substantially the same as the law now in force, there was no law in lowa regulating the rate of interest: Palmer v. Leffler, 18-125. As to rate of interest, charges, etc.. allowable on loans in mutual building associations, see § 1186 and note. SEC. 2080. If it shall be ascertained in any suit brought on Usury penalty any contract, that a rate of interest has been contracted for for taking. greater than is authorized by this chapter, either directly or indirectly, in money or property, the same shall work a forfeiture of ten cents on the hundred by the year upon the amount of such contract, to the school fund of the county in which the suit is brought, and the plaintiff shall have judgment for the principal sum without either interest or cost. The court in which said suit is prosecuted, shall render judgment for the amount of interest forfeited as aforesaid against the defendant, in favor of the state of lowa for the use of the school fund of said county, whether the said suit is contested or not; and in no case where unlawful interest is contracted for, shall the plaintiff have judgment for more than the principal sum, whether the unlawful interest be incorporated with the principal or not. WHO MAY SET UP THE DEFENSE | OF USURY: The defense of usury is personal to the debtor, and cannot be interposed by one who is not a party nor privy to the usurious contract: Drake v. Lowry, 14-125; Sternberg v. Callanan, 14-251; Miller v. Clark, 37-325. It cannot, therefore, be interposed by the grantee of land mort gaged to secure the usurious debt, in an action to forclose: Green v. Turner, 38-112; Greither v. Alexander, 15470; Hollingworth v. Swickard, 10385; Frost v. Shaw, 10-491: Perry v. Kearns, 13-174; nor by a judgment creditor of an insolvent: Carmichael v. Bodfish, 32-418; nor can a junior mortgagee in an action to redeem |
