Subject_1 DECISIONS of the LORDS OF COUNCIL AND SESSION, reported by SIR JOHN LAUDER OF FOUNTAINHALL.
Elizabeth Ogilvie and Mr Patrick Reid v. Meldrum of Halton
Date: 19 February 1695
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Elizabeth Ogilvie, and Mr Patrick Reid, minister, her husband, against Meldrum of Halton, was reported. The defence is,—I am pursued on a bond subscribed by two principal debtors, and they are not bound conjunctly and severally; and so I cannot be convened in solidum, but only pro rata, for my half. Answered,—The bond acknowledges that both received the money, and so must be liable; seeing it does not bear they should only pay the half; et verba sunt interpretanda contra eum qui potuit legem contractui apertius dixisse.
The Lords found this conception did not import an obligation in solidum against every one of them, but only for the half; even as cautioners in the Roman law had the beneficium divisionis.
