To find the amount of interest at 5 per cent., take half of above amounts. $9 $10 $100 $1000 I I 222 2233 3 3 4 444 5556666777∞∞∞∞ 33333 + 4 + 55 55 566 4444555 1 67 19 I 94 22 2 22 25 2 50 28 2 78 31 3 06 333 33 36 3 61 393 89 42 4 17 50 5 00 5 6 61 6 11 6 8 8 75 7 50 78 7 78 7 3 4 5 7 8 15 17 353 1 67 16 67 2 50 25 00 3 33 33 33 8 13 17 33 38 42 4 17 41 67 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 5 00 50 00 4I 47 53 6 67 66 67 60 67 75 8 83 3383 33 73 83 70 80 90 92 9 1791 67 $10 $100 Interest Laws of all the States and Territories in the United States * Liable to arrest for misdemeanor. † Also punishable as a misdemeanor. Banks forfeit interest only, or double the interest if charged in advance. Also 6 per cent. on judgments. Statutes of Limitations. The following table will show the time allowed in each State and Territory of the Union and in the Provinces of Canada for the institution of a suit for any of the various causes named. After the expiration of these years all actions are barred by the statute. LEGAL FORMS USED IN BUSINESS. Forms of Agreements or Contracts. AN agreement or contract is an arrangement entered into by two or more persons, by which each binds himself to perform certain specified acts within a designated time. Agreements may be verbal, but it is better in all cases, and absolutely essential in matters of importance, to express them in writing. Great care should be taken, in drawing an agreement, to state explicitly and in the plainest language the various acts to be performed, and the time of such performance. Nothing should be left to doubt or uncertainty. The law requires that all the parties to an agreement shall understand its provisions in the same sense, and does not recognize the existence of a contract in which this is not the case. Thus, a person sent an order to a merchant for a particular quantity of goods on certain terms of credit. The merchant sent a less quantity of goods, and at a shorter credit. The goods were lost on the way, and the merchant sued the party who ordered them for their value. He failed to win his case, as the court held that in consequence of the failure of the merchant to send the quantity of goods ordered and to grant the credit asked, there was no common understanding between the parties, and consequently no contract. A contract must show that it is made for a valuable consideration. A failure to do this renders it void in law. Fraud annuls all contracts and obligations, and the party so wronged is relieved of his obligation by law. If both the parties to an agreement act fraudulently, neither can take advantage of the fraud of the other; nor can one who acts fraudulently set his own fraud aside for his benefit. Agreements written in pencil are binding in law, but it is best to write them with ink, as pencil-marks are easily erased. Agreements should be prepared and signed in duplicate, triplicate, etc., according to the number of persons concerned in them. Each party should have a copy, and should carefully preserve it. Generally speaking, all written instruments are construed and interpreted by the law according to the simple, customary, and natural meaning of the words used. When a contract is so obscure or uncertain that it must be set wholly aside, |