HAWES v. DAVYE (1565)

 En dett sur obligation le defendant ad oyer del obligation enter verbatim, et del condition in hec verba, scilicet If the obligour doe pay or cause to be payd unto the obligee the whole somme of lx li. of lawfull money of England in one whole payment to be made the xxiiij th day of September next ensuing the date hereof, without any further delay, in the house of the obligee in Plymouth in Devon, or at any time on this side the xxiiij day of September, if thabovenamed barke fortune to take any purchace or price worth in value 500 li., that then etc.  Defendens dicit quod actio non, quia dicit quod post confectionem scripti predicti et ante diem impetrationis brevis originalis dicti querentis, le barke vocat' le dragon non cepit aliquam perquisitionem sive captionem Anglice vocata a prize ad valenciam 500 li., et hoc etc., sur que le plaintife demurre en ley.  Et lopinion del court fuit pur le plaintife, eo que il appert bien que le somme de 60 li. fuit due devant lobligation fait, et lextremitie del payment deferre tanque le 24 jour de Septembre, et sur un contingent ou happe il est payable pluistost.

Translation:  In debt on a bond, the defendant had oyer of the bond entered verbatim, and of the condition in haec verba: 'if the obligor do pay or cause to be paid unto the obligee the whole sum of £60 of lawful money of England in one whole payment to be made on 24 September next ensuing the date hereof, without any further delay, in the house of the obligee in Plymouth in Devon, or at any time on this side of 24 September, if the above-named barque fortune to take any purchase or prize worth in value £500, that then [the bond should be void]'.  The defendant says that the plaintiff ought not to have the action, 'because he says that after the making of the aforesaid writing and before the day of purchasing the said plaintiff's original writ, the barque called The Dragon did not take any purchase or prize to the value of £500, and this [he is ready to aver]'; whereupon the plaintiff demurs in law.  And the opinion of the court was for the plaintiff, since it well appears that the sum of £60 was due before the bond was made, and the extremity of the payment was deferred until 24 September, and upon a contingency or chance event it is payable sooner.

Source: I Reports from the Lost Notebooks of Sir James Dyer 119 (J.H. Baker ed. 1994).