New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad v. Mississippi College

Citations

• 47 Miss. 560

Syllabus

<p>1. Equity jurisdiction — lost bonds — brofert.—Equity jurisdiction, in cases of lost bonds, originates in the doctrine of profert at common law. It being impossible to produce a lost bond, as required by the ancient rule of pleading in the common law courts, the courts of chancery, in such cases, entertained jurisdiction to compel its re-execution and the payment of the money it secured. And now, though profert, in ease of loss, is dispensed with, the equity jurisdiction, in such cases, still survives, and should be applied whenever the loss of the bonds exposes the owner to undue perils in the future assertion of his rights.</p> <p>2. Case at bar. — The lost bonds in this case having considerable time yet to run before maturity, derive their chief value from their commercial character. Of the enjoyment of this value, the owners would be deprived by the accidental loss. Against this, it is in the power of a court of equity to grant relief by decreeing a re-issue»</p> <p>3. Bonds outstanding and not lost. — But it -is onerous and erroneous to decree such relief in respect to bonds not lost, without requiring the owner to give ample indemnity against the re-appearance, in the hands of bona fide holders, of such outstanding bonds.</p> <p>4. Bona fide holders of lost bonds. — A bona fide holder, for value, of a lost bond, is entitled to recover the full amount of principal and interest due thereon, notwithstanding he may have had a suspicion and good grounds for suspicion of defect in the title, and been guilty of gross negligence in respect to it at the time of the transfer. Iiis title will not be defeated, unless he was also guilty of bad faith.</p>