Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 1

5. The rule in Philadelphia was established for bills drawn or endorsed upon England or Europe by the Act of 27 Nov. 1700, c. 70, 2 Pa. Stat. 86, which provided that when such bills were returned “unpaid with a legal protest,” the parties liable should pay the face of the bill, “together with twenty pounds per cent advance for the damage thereof.” See Francis v. Rucker, Ambl. 672, 27 Eng. Rep. 436 (Ch. 1768); Morris v. Tarin, 1 Dall. 147 (Pa. C.P. 1785). Similar practice seems to have been followed in Rhode Island by statute and in New York by custom. The premium in the former colony was 10 percent, and in the latter 20 percent. See Brown v. Van Braam, 3 Dall. (3 U.S.) 344, 346–348 (1797); Hendricks v. Franklin, 4 Johns. (N.Y.) 119 (1809); Herbert Alan Johnson, The Law Merchant and Negotiable Instruments in Colonial New York, 1664 to 1730 39–40 (Chicago, 1963)