MONEY. Gold and silver coins. The common medium of exchange in a civilized nation.
There is some difference of opinion as to the etymology of the word money ; and writ ers do not agree as to its precise meaning. Some writers define it to be the common medium of exchange among civilized na tions ; but in the United States constitution there is a provision which has been suppos ed to make it synonymous with coins: "The congress shall have power to win money." Art. 1, sect. 8. Again: "No state shall coin money, or make anything but gold and sil ver a legal tender in payment of debt." Art. 1, sect. 10. Hence the money of the United States consists.of gold and silver coins. And so well has the congress maintained this point, that the copper coins heretofore. struck, and the nickel cent of recent issues, although authorized to "pass current," are not money in an exact sense, because they, are not made a legal tender beyond twenty five cents. The question has been made whether a paper currency can be constitu tionally authorized by congress and consti tuted a legal tender in the payment of pri vate debts. Such a power has been exercis ed and adjudged valid by the highest tri bunal of several of the states, as well as by congress in the legal-tender acts of 1862 and 1863. See LEGAL TENDER; 1 Am. L. Reg. N. S. 553 ; 11 id. 618; 12 id. 601; Klauber v. Biggerstaff, 47 Wis. 551, 3 N. W. 357, 32 Am. Rep. 773.
For many purposes, bank-notes ; 1 Y. & J. 380 ; Floyd v. Day, 3 Mass. 405, 3 Am. Dec. 171; Willie v. Green, 2 N. H. 333 ; State v. Dube, 20 Wis. 217, 91 Am. Dee. 390; Ainslie v. Wilson, 7 Cow. (N. Y.) 662, 17 Am. Dec. 532; Rice v. Jones, 71 Ala. 554; Waterman v. Waterman, 34 Mich. 490; treasury notes and national bank notes; Woodruff v. State, 66 Miss. 298, 6 South. 235 ; greenbacks; Ex parte Prince, 27 Fla. 196, 9 South. 659, 26 Am. St. Rep. 67; a check ; 4 Bingh. 179; negotiable notes; Floyd v. Day, 3 Mass. 405, 3 Am. Dec. 171; securities ; Hinckley v. Priam, 41 Ill: App. 579 ; and bonds; Smith's Estate, 19 Pa. C. C. R. 516; will be consid ered as money. But, ordinarily, standing alone, it means only that which passes cur rent as money, including bank deposits; but in a bequest of money it has been held to include personal property ; Sweet v. Burnett,
65 Hun 159, 20 N. Y. Supp. 24 ; See Gillen v. Kimball, 34 Ohio St. 352. But a charge that the defendant set up and kept a faro bank, at which money was bet, etc., is not sus tained by proof that bank-notes were bet, etc. ; Pryor v. Com., 2 Dana (Ky.) 298.; or where there is an indictment for the larceny of lawful money of the United States, evi dence of the larceny of national bank notes, does not warrant a conviction ; Hamilton v. State, 60 Ind. 193, 28 Am. Rep. 653. To sup port a count for money had and received, the receipt by the defendant of bank-notes, prom issory notes ; Fairbanks v. Blackington, 9 Pick. (Mass.) 93 ; Buck v. Appleton, 14 Me. 285 ; Tuttle v. Mayo, 7 Johns. (N. Y.) 132 ; credit in account in the books of a third per son; 3 Campb. 199; or any chattel, is suffi cient ; Mason v. Waite, 17 Maas. 560 ; and will be treated as money. See Morrison v. Berkey, 7 S. & R. (Pa.) 246 ; 3 B. & P. 559 ; Menear v. State, 30 Tex. App. 475, 17 S. W. 1082 ; Miller v. McKinney, 5 Lea (Tenn.) 96. The mutilation of coins is forbidden by law. U. S. R. S. 2 Supp. 579.
A worn five-cent piece is legal tender as long as it is not appreciably diminished in weight and retains the appearance of genu ine coinage ; Cincinnati Northern Traction Go. v. Rosnagle, 84 Ohio St. 310, 95 N. E. 884, 35 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1030, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 639 ; Jersey City & B. R. Co. v. Mor gan, 52 N. J. L: 60, 18 Atl. 904. If a silver coin is punched and mutilated, and an appre ciable amount of silver removed from it, and the hole plugged up with base metal, it is an act of counterfeiting; but otherwise where all the silver is in the coin ; U. S. v. Lissner, 12 Fed. 840.
The value of foreign coin depends upon the value of its pure metal; Act of Aug. 27, 1894, which directs a quarterly estimate of the value of foreign coins to be published by the secretary of the treasury. See U. S. v. Whitridge, 197 U. S. 141, 25 Sup. Ct. 406, 49 L. Ed. 696.
See LATIN UNION ; GOLD ; SILVER ; COIN ; LEGAL TENDER; TICKET.