Hepburn v. Griswold

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Hepburn v. Griswold, 75 U.S. 603 (1870)^[1], was a Supreme Court of the United States case in which Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, speaking for the Court, declared certain parts of the legal tender acts to be unconstitutional. This included the issuance of greenbacks, which he was responsible for overseeing despite his disagreement with the policy during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury.

The lawsuit originated when one Mrs. Hepburn attempted to pay a debt due to one Henry Griswold on a promissory note, which was made five days prior to the issuance of United States notes that this case questioned. Griswold sued Hepburn in the Louisville Chancery Court on the note and refused Mrs. Hepburn's tender of United States notes to satisfy his claim. She then tendered the notes into the chancery court, which declared her debt satisfied.

The Court of Errors of Kentucky reversed the chancery court's judgment, and Mrs. Hepburn appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which in this opinion affirmed the judgment of the Court of Errors.

The holding in this case was explicitly overruled by the Legal Tender Cases, 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 457 (1871), in which Chase dissented.