BILL OF CREDIT. It is provided by the Constitution of the United States,
art. 1, s. 10, that no state shall " emit bills of credit, or make anything
but gold and silver coin a tender in payment or debts." Such bills of credit
are declared to mean promissory notes or bills issued exclusively on the
credit of the. state, and for the payment of which the faith of the state
only is pledged. The prohibition, therefore, does not apply to the notes of
a state bank, drawn on the credit of a particular fund set apart for the
purpose. 2 M'Cord's R. 12; 2 Pet. R. 818; 11 Pet. R. 257. Bills of credit
may be defined to be paper issued and intended to circulate through the
community for its ordinary purposes, as money redeemable at a future day. 4
Pet. U. S. R. 410; 1 Kent, Com. 407 4 Dall. R. xxiii.; Story, Const. Sec.
1362 to 1364 1 Scam. R. 87, 526.
2. This phrase is used in another sense among merchants it is a letter
sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit
to the bearer for goods or money. Com. Dig. Merchant, F 3; 5 Sm. & Marsh.
491; R. M. Charlt. 151; 4 Pike, R. 44; 3 Burr. Rep. 1667.