MONOHUR DOSS Vs. ROMANAUTH LAW

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The defendant does not deny the plaintiff's general right to an account of what is due under the mortgages, and to have the property sold; but he maintains (1) that lie ought not to pay compound interest, (2) that the bills of costs delivered in 1869 ought to be taxed, and (3) that the rate of interest was too high, and ought to be reduced.

(2.) Before proceeding to deal with these particular questions, we may say generally, that there is no reason whatever to suppose that the plaintiff' intended to act dishonestly towards his client. The plaintiff had no doubt satisfied himself in his own mind, that if his client went elsewhere to borrow the money, he would not, on the whole, be so well off. We are quite willing to presume this in favour of an attorney of long standing and high character, such as the plaintiff is here. But, for the purposes of this suit, the question is, whether, having regard to the fiduciary relation between the parties, and the rule which the Court always observes in transactions between attorney and client, the plaintiff's contention hero is well founded.

(3.) First, then, as to the interest. The plaintiff abandoned in the lower Court the claim to any accumulation of interest since the date of the third mortgage; but he maintains that he is entitled to the prior accumulation of interest included in the mortgages of 1870 and 1871. The defendant desires to get rid of all accumulations of interest, and to have the whole account taken from the date of the first mortgage at simple interest. The learned Judge in the Court below has given the plaintiff the accumulations of interest prior to the third mortgage; and, subject to the question of the rate of interest which we shall consider hereafter, we think rightly so. If the debt be really due, and the rate of interest be a fair one (which are wholly separate questions), it would be quite unreasonable that the debtor should pay no interest for many years, and that the creditor should be kept all that time out of his interest without any compensation.