PAYMENT. In law, the satisfaction or dis charge of a legal obligation by the delivery of money, or something which the creditor accepts in lieu of money. Payment is, therefore, em ployed in a more limited sense than performance, which implies the fulfillment of any legal obliga tion, as carrying out the provisions of an agree ment or contract to do work or furnish materials to another. In order to be effectual, payment must be made to the proper party, that is, either to the one to whom it is due, personally, or to some other person lawfully authorized by him to receive it, and it must be of the exact amount due. It should be made at the exact time and place agreed upon, or implied by law, in order to avoid a claim for interest from that time, or the commencement of an action. In general where no place for payment has been previously agreed upon by the parties, the debtor must seek the creditor, or he may be considered as in de fault. The chief consequences which may ensue
on a default of payment are, in general, to give the creditor the right to have immediate recourse to any security, as to sell an article pledged as security, or to foreclose a mortgage or other lien, and if the contract is a continuing one and payments become due in installments to rescind the contract, refuse to proceed further, and sue the debtor for the amount then due and unpaid. Where payment is made to one of several joint creditors, the debtor is discharged, even though the one to whom he paid it does not account to his fellow creditors. The effect of a valid pay ment is to discharge the debtor from his obliga tion. See CREDITOR ; DEBTOR ; LEGAL TENDER ; NEGOTIABLE PAPER. Consult the authorities re ferred to under CONTRACT.