Rep. 860; Henderson v. Johnson, 10 S. W. Rep. 788. A statute which relates to persons or things as a class is a general law, while a statute which relates to particular persons or things of a class is special and comes within the constitutional inhibition. State v. Miller, 13 S. W. Rep. 679; Wheeler v. Philadelphia, 77 Pa. St. 338; In Re Elevated Railroad, 70 N. Y. 328, In Re Church, 92 N. Y. 4. A determination whether or not a given law is general will proceed from a consideration both of the purpose of the act and the objects on which it is intended to operate. State v. Sloan, 8 At. Rep. 104; State v. Miller, 13 S. W. Rep. 679; State v. Sloan, 49 N. J. Law 356; Board v. Buck, 16 At. Rep. 701.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
BARTHOLOMEW, J. This is an agreed case submitted to the district court of the First district under the provisions of § 5540 of the Compiled Laws. The action is brought to recover judgment on a promissory note, and the statement shows that on July 1, 1890, appellant executed and delivered to respondent his promissory note of $575, due in five years, with interest at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum. The first interest payment became due September 1, 1890, and subsequent interest to be paid semi-annually. At the time of executing the note the appellant received from the respondent the sum of $500 and no more. The remaining $75 was by agreement retained by respondent as a compensation or fee for making such loan. Default was made in the first interest payment. The case turns largely upon the constitutionality of chapter 184 of the Laws of 1890. This chapter is entitled "An act defining usury and the penalty for taking the same," and it fixes the rate of interest, in the absence of a different contract, at 7 per cent. per annum, and fixes 12 per cent. as the limit that may be lawfully contracted for, and declares all contracts whereby a greater rate is, either directly or indirectly, received or contracted to be paid, to be usurious and void from the beginning, with an exception saving negotiable paper in the hands of a bona fide purchaser for value before maturity. The fourth section reads as follows: "In all written contracts for the loan of money, the exact amount
