GWYN VS. LEE. 449

a valid title, and may recover upon it, although, as between
the antecedent parties, the transaction may be invalid. This
is a doctrine, Mr. Justice Story says, so long and so well estab-
lished, and so essential to the security of negotiable paper,
that it is laid up among the fundamentals of the law. And as
little doubt is there, that the holder of such paper before it is
due, is not bound to prove that he is a bona fide holder for a
valuable consideration without notice; for the law will presume
that, in the absence of rebutting proofs.

It is true, if the other party has established the want, or
failure, or illegality of the consideration, or that the note has
been lost or stolen, before it came to the possession of the
holder, it may then become incumbent on him, to show that he
has given value for it; for, under such circumstances, he ought
not to be placed in a better situation than the prior parties,
through whom he obtained it. Story on Promissory Notes, sec-
tions 195, 196, and the notes to those sections.

The question then, is, has the defendant, Lee, shown, for the
purposes of this motion, that he has given value for this note ?
The answer says, speaking responsively to the bill, that upon
the security of this note before it became due, and of other
notes, a list of which is given, he, at the time he received it,
loaned the holders twenty-one thousand dollars, and that he is
a fair and bona fide holder, for a full and valuable consideration
without notice.

The argument of the complainants' council is, that as the
charge of usury has not been answered, it must, upon this mo-
tion, be assumed to be true, and that consequently the defend-
ant cannot be regarded as a bona fide holder for value, and the
note being stated in the bill to have been procured by fraud,
which statement must also, as it is said, at this stage of the
cause be treated as true, the defendant is in no better situation
than the prior party from whom he obtained it.

The defendant, it is true, does not deny the usury charged
against him, insisting that he is under no obligation to do so,
but he says he gave value for the note, and that he is now ready
and willing, to surrender the securities in his hands, including
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