ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 346, 25 July 1885, Page 13

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Sajitho Eessoep writes.— -Seeing that you have offered to answer legal questions, I should be obliged if you would give your valued attention to the solution of the following : — l. If in the indentures of an apprentice a clause is inserted, setting forth that should the apprentice voluntarily absent himself from his employment, and that, in event of his so doing, he or his father shall pay to the employer a fine of say four or five shillings per day, can such fine be legally enforced ? 2. Is it incumbent on a tradesman to return the cash to a customer if the article sold be not approved of, or if he (the tradesman) cannot satisfactorily exchange the article for others ? 3. Can interest be added to a debt of long standing, and the payment thereof be legally enforced ? 4. Is a receipt an absolute and legal discharge of a debt ? 5. And can the payment of a debt, which, has already been paid, but of which a receipt has not been obtained, be enforced ? [1. There is nothing to prevent the recovery of a penalty duly agreed upon for an apprentice absenting himself from work, so long as it is in the nature of compensation for the loss to the master, and not a mere fancy penalty like that usually inserted in a bond. 2. In case of a sale, if the goods supplied are those actually bought, or- precisely similar to saorple, the contract is complete on delivery, and the seller need not take them back, nor return the money paid by the buyer. 3. Interest can be added to an old debt after written notice is served on the debtor that it will be charged after a certain time unless payment is made, or if it can be shown that the debtor agreed to pay interest if he were not pressed for immediate payment. 4. A receipt is not always an absolute legal discharge of a debt. It may be shown that it was given in error, or that the giver was misled. A receipt for a sum less than that due will not discharge the whole debt, unless it is made by a deed expressing the intention of settling for less than is actually due. 5. Payment of a debt can only be enforced twice in the absence of proof that the first payment was made. A receipt is not the only proof of this. Any evidence of payment can be given, and if believed by the Court, will be accepted.]