Filthy lucre: Paper money shunned for fear of virus spread

AP News ^ | 20 Mar 20 | Ken Sweet

[IronJack]

Look up the legal implications of "tender".

Granted, exceptions have been made over tenders made with absurd currencies -- wheelbarrows full of pennies, for example, or hundred-dollar bills to discharge a $2 debt, etc.. Airlines routinely insist that no cash transactions are allowed for purchases of snacks or drinks. Those are exceptions, not the rule.

Look on a five-dollar bill; it explicitly states that the note is legal tender for all debts public and private.

[Buffalo Head]

But that doesn’t mean that if payment is refused because of the type of payment offered that the debt is canceled.

[IronJack]

Tender of payment fulfills the debtor's obligation to the vendor. If the latter opts to refuse the tender, the debtor is under no further obligation to continue to offer to discharge the debt.

At least that's what I was taught in Business Law many moons ago. I'm not a lawyer, but there's some logic in it. After all, if I owe you money and offer to pay you, but you refuse to take the money, how can I force you? But you don't have the option of keeping me forever in your debt by simply refusing to take my repayment.

[Buffalo Head]

Thank you for your effort but I’m still not totally convinced. In any event, the legal aspect is probably controlled by each state, not the federal government. It might vary, state by state.

[IronJack]

Since currency is a federal function, I doubt its usage is governed at the state level. However, much of currency governance is regulatory, not statutory, so it’s hard to say.