Excerpt from A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts and Other Publications on Paper Currency and BankingWith the exception of the period from 1797 down to 1819 the paper currency of Great Britain has always been con vertible at pleasure into an equivalent amount of coin of the standard weight and purity. Our bank-notes are not, strictly speaking, money, but only substitutes for money. Inasmuch, however, as no doubt is entertained of their immediate con vertibility into coins, and as they perform some of the principal functions of the latter, and are in many respects more commodious, they are practically held to be money. TO use the words of Lord Mansfield these notes are not, like bills Of exchange, mere securities or documents for debts, nor are so esteemed; but are treated as money in the ordinary course and transactions of business, by the general consent Of mankind; and on payment of them whenever a receipt is required, the receipts are always given as for money not as for securities or notes.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work.

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