Rate Of Interest On Contracts. Hi

be allowed to recover the prin- cipal amount of the debt without any interest. The general principle in relation to contracts made in one place, to be executed in another, is well settled. They are to be governed by the law of the place of performance ; and if the interest allowed by the laws of the place of performance is higher than that per- mitted at the place of the contract, the parties may stipulate for the higher interest without incurring the penalties of usury. And in the case before us, if the defendants had given their note to H. M. Andrews & Co. fqr the debt then due to them, payable at Mobile in sixty days, with eight per cent, interest, such a contract would undoubtedly have been valid, and would have been no violation of the laws of New York, although the lawful interest in that State is only seven per cent. But the defend- ants allege that the contract was not made with reference to the laws of either State, and that a higher rate of interest than that allowed by the laws of New York was reserved, under the name of ex- change, in order to evade the law. If this defence is found true by the jury, the question is not which INTENT OF THE PAETIES, ETC. 121 « law is to govern in executing the contract, but which is to decide the fate of a security taken