Græme v. Adams

Citations

• 23 Va. 225
• 14 Am. Rep. 130

Syllabus

<p>J A. contracts to bnild for G. in the city of Richmond, certain houses, according to a plan and specifications, for tiro sum of §54,700, payable in annual instalments^of S12,000, to bear in- ' terest at the rate of $7 30 per eent. per annum, to be secured by deed of trust on the property. If the interest was a part of the contract price of the buildings, the contract is not usurious. If it was for the loan of money or other thing, or for the forbearance of a debt due, it was usurious.</p> <p>2. A. claims that he entered into another subsequent contract with G-., which was to bear six^er cent, interest. If the first contract was usurious, all the usury included in it must have been excluded from the second, or it is usurious.</p> <p>3. To constitute a new contract the first must be rescinded and set aside by the parties to it, and the second adopted as a substitute for the first, with the mtention to be governed thereafter by its terms.</p> <p>4. The price under which the work was done under the second contract was just as much greater than that provided for in the first, as the difference of the interest on that first sum at six and §7 30 per cent, per annum for the whole time of the credit, viz : §57,800; and when the work was completed, notes payable, as agreed on in the contract, were taken, bearing six per cent, interest from their date until the time of payment. If this addition to the first sum contracted for was for the loan of money or other thing, or for the forbearance of a debt due, ' the second contract is usurious; but if it was not for such loan or forbearance, it was not usurious.</p> <p>5. Forbearance in the sense of the statute in relation to usury, is the giving a further day for the return of a loan when the time originally agreed on is passed; and if the rate of interest agreed on for such forbearance is over six per cent, per annum, it is usurious.</p> <p>6. If the contract for the price of the houses was payable in instalments bearing intere