Hepburn

vs. Griswold, one of the “ legal-tender cases” in the U. S. Supreme Court, decided 1864. In 1860 Mrs. Hepburn promised to pay Griswold on February 20, 1862, $11,250, legal tender at that time (1860) being gold and silver only. In 1862, during the Civil War, the United States i ued $150,000,000 of its own notes to be received as lawful money in payment of public and private debts within the United States. Mrs. Hepburn’s note being overdue, suit was brought by Griswold in the Court of Chancery of Kentucky in 1864. Mrs. Hepburn tendered United States notes in payment, which were refused, though the court declared the debt absolved. The Court of Appeals reversed this judgment, and, it being brought to the U. S. Supreme Court, that body confirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, on the -round that the Act of 1862 was not intended to impair contracts made prior to its pa age. This decision was reversed in Knox vs. Lee and Julliard vs. C:reenman.