Excerpt from A Selection of Cases in Equity Jurisdiction, Vol. 1: With Notes and Citations Debt upon an obligation by J. R. of London against M. P. and T. B., citizens and aldermen of London. Choke, for the defendants. The action lies not; for formerly, on such a day in the feast of the Holy Trinity, in the year last past, the said defendants made a bill to the Chancellor of England containing the matter following: that the defendants had purchased of J. R. certain debts due to him, giving their obligation therefor; that these debts being only choses in action could not vest in the defendants so as to give them any action for the recovery of the debts, but the duty remained all the time in J. R.. so that the defendants had no quid pro quo; that their obligation was, on this account, void add worthless, bnt that the common law gave them no relief against their obligation; wherefore they prayed for a writ against J. R. to appear, under a certain penalty, before the king in Chancery to answer to this matter. A subpoena issued. The parties appeared, and because the matter was doubtful in law, the Chancellor [Waynflete] adjourned them to the Exchequer Chamber. There the matter was rehearsed and well debated before him and the justices of both benches. And it was the opinion of all the justices that, as no duty was vested in the defendants by the bargain, the obligation ought in conscience to be surrendered to them, or the plaintiff ought to release the defendants. The Chancellor ordered him to give up the obligation to be cancelled in the Chancery or to make an acquittance or release. The plaintiff refusing to do either, was committed for contempt to the Fleet prison until he should obey, and still remains there. And we do not think an action lies upon the obligation. Demurrer. And now a supersedeas is issued out of Chancery. Billing, for the plaintiff. The decree is not that the obligation is null and void in law, but that the plaintiff shall bring it in to be cancelled. This proves clearly that the obligation is in force until cancelled. The bar is bad. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.