Lusk v. Smith

Citations

• 71 Kan. 550
• 81 P. 173
• 1905 Kan. LEXIS 180

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Contracts — Usury. It is an essential requisite to a usurious transaction that there be a loan, either expressed or implied.</p> <p>2. -Presumption Overcome. A son receiving $5000 from his mother stated to her that he could get her ten per cent, interest, and perhaps more. He deposited the amount to his credit in a bank “as agent,” and withdrew it on checks signed the same way. He gave his mother a memorandum-book in which he credited her with the principal sum, adding the words “to be loaned out.” Held, that these facts overcame any presumption of a usurious agreement which might arise from the payment of interest above the legal rate for over ten years by the son to his mother.</p> <p>3. --- Construction. Where an agreement to pay interest is subject to two constructions, one of which will make it usurious, and the other not, the court will adopt the latter.</p>