Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/625

 618 FEDERAL BBPOBTEB. �duly notified and held for that purpose, I, A. Hyatt Smith, mayor of said city, hereunto subscribe my name, and cause the seal of said city to be affixed. �Dated at Janesville, July 1, 1853. �Subscribed and sealed thisfirst day of August, 1853. �By A. Hyatt Smith, Mayor. �Countersigned by J. W. Hobson, Treasurer. �Annexed to the bond set eut in the conaplaint are 40 coupons, for the payment of semi-annual interest, in thia form: �INTEREST WARRANT POB FORTT DOLLABB. �On the first day of July, 1873, the city of Janesville, Wis., will owe and will pay to the Eoek Eiver Valley Union Eail- road Company, or bearer, $40, being for the half year yearly interest on city certificate No. 47, for |1,000, payable in the city pf New York. J. W. Hobson, Treasurer. �The defendant demurs to the complaint, and the point re- lied upon is that the Eock Eiver Valley Union Eailroad Com- pany, being a Wisconsin corporation, could not assign the bond to a citizen of Massachusetts so as to enable him to bring an action in this court ; and the question presented is whether the bond in suit is a promissory note, negotiable by the law marchant, within the intent and meaning of section 1, c. 137, of the act of March 3, 1875, defining the jurisdic- tion of circuit courts. �It is contended by the defendant — First, that the instru- ment sued on is a bond and not a promissory note ; second, that, if a note, it is not negotiable by the law merchant, it not containing the words "bearer" or "order." �In regard to the first point, sealed instruments of this char- acter, providing for the payment of money at a future time, certainly have in this country, with very few exceptions, been held promissory notes rather than specialties. In fact, the instrument in suit answers every definition and requisite of a promissory note by the law merchant. �It is not in form a bond, but it is a simple acknowledg- ����