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 Replies: 7 / Views: 2,022 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4868 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2495 Posts |
Thanks for posting the interesting article.
I learned a few new things about 'legal tender'.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
837 Posts |
Thanks for sharing it  That is a fascinating article  |
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Valued Member
United States
214 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
I always thought that to 'TENDER' something was to 'OFFER' it.
In that respect, as far as currency / coins are concerned, that means that an issuing authority will recognise that which is offered has legal purchasing power.
That same something (currency notes or coins) that which is offered as payment does NOT have to be ACCEPTED by the seller, but same thing (currency notes / coins) offered to a bank HAS to be accepted a bank by Law.
That is why a seller in a practical sense, does not FEEL obliged to accept NCLT as legal payment for his goods or services.
Also in a practical sense, most sellers would not even recognise NCLT as NCLT, or have any idea of it's current market value; for that matter neither would I, due to the huge volume of differnt NCLT that is sold to collectors.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1700 Posts |
That's why banks aren't obligated to sell out pennies!
Edited by Petersun
10/17/2014 7:51 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
937 Posts |
In a broader, but similar vein, cheques work the same way. If a seller doesn't like the look of any particular cheque he/she doesn't have to accept it; yet on the other hand they can accept any cheques as legal if they see fit to do so. There are several cases from years past of rather unusual cheques that were accepted by the recipient, including one which was painted on the side of a cow and another painted on a wooden door. I suppose if a seller was to accept a pile of common rocks as payment that would be legal too. Anything has purchasing power, if the seller accepts it as payment. Cashing those rocks at a bank would be an entirely different matter, of course. Given the thinking and warped sense of humour some folks out there have the government had to put some sort of a brake on what constitutes a legal maximum coin quantity above which the seller can refuse them -- if for no other reason than it takes an awful lot of little red wagon loads to cart $5000 worth of pennies to the bank...
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
the legal theory is that if you "tender" an amount of cash, then that settles a debt upto that amount.
After that, the debtor has a defence to a legal action to recover the debt.
U.S. notes, if I recall correctly, mention "all debts, public and private".
So, SEL, I agree that tender and offer, as verbs, have the same meaning.
Petersun, in Australia, our pre-Decimal coins were withdrawn in 1966. Our bronze 1c & 2c coins were withdrawn in 1991 (I think). But none of those were demonetized, so they remain "legal tender". In a practical sense, you are very unlikely to have any joy from shopkeepers. The banks are instructed, by way of a Reserve Bank order to gather them in for return. They will not issue them (although a sympathetic teller might do a favour for a collector). That is not "Law" - that is just the banks doing as the Reserve Bank tells them, rather than incurring their ill-will.
Penny Saver- those old cases about cheques - most notoriously A. P. HERBERT, are mostly fiction. In any event, you won't get away with it today, because the standard contract between the bank and the account-holder requires the customer to use the bank's standard form of cheque, to the exclusion of all others. So, anyone presenting a cow, or a door, at a bank, will quickly be shown the door.
And the pile of rocks example - I'd call that "barter".
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Replies: 7 / Views: 2,022 |
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Posted 10/16/2014 6:18 pm
