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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mikem2000, post: 1559706, member: 30574&quot;]It does not get any clearer to this.&nbsp; Shop keepers do not have to accept large bank notes if no previous debt exists.&nbsp; But now if you go down to city hall to pay you taxes, they have to accept your Benjies.....</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Legal tender</b> is a medium of <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Payment" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Payment">payment</a> allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation.[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-0">[1]</a>[/SUP] Paper <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Currency" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Currency">currency</a> and <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Coin" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Coin">coins</a> are common forms of legal tender in many countries. The origin of the term &quot;legal tender&quot; is from Middle English <i>tendren</i>, French <i>tendre</i> (verb form), meaning <i>to offer</i>. The <i>Latin</i> root is <i>tendere</i> (to stretch out), and the sense of <i>tender</i> as an <i>offer</i> is related to the etymology of the English word ex<b>tend</b> (to hold outward).[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-1" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-1">[2]</a>[/SUP] The noun form of a <b>tender</b> as an <i>offering</i> is a back-formation of the noun from the verb.[SUP][<i><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed">citation needed</a></i>][/SUP]</p><p>Legal tender is variously defined in different <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Jurisdiction" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Jurisdiction">jurisdictions</a>. Formally, it is anything which when offered in payment extinguishes the debt. Thus, personal <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Cheque" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Cheque">cheques</a>, <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Credit_card" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Credit_card">credit cards</a>, <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Debit_card" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Debit_card">debit cards</a>, and similar non-cash methods of payment are not usually legal tender. The law does not relieve the debt obligation until payment is accepted. <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Coin" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Coin">Coins</a> and <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Banknote" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Banknote">banknotes</a> are usually defined as legal tender. Some jurisdictions may forbid or restrict payment made other than by legal tender. For example, such a law might outlaw the use of foreign coins and bank notes or require a <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/License" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/License">license</a> to perform <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Financial_transaction" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Financial_transaction">financial transactions</a> in a foreign currency.</p><p>In some jurisdictions legal tender can be refused as payment if no debt exists prior to the time of payment (where the obligation to pay may arise at the same time as the offer of payment). For example <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Vending_machine" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Vending_machine">vending machines</a> and transport staff do not have to accept the largest denomination of banknote. Shopkeepers may reject large banknotes: this is covered by the legal concept known as <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Invitation_to_treat" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Invitation_to_treat">invitation to treat</a>. However, <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Restaurant" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Restaurant">restaurants</a> that do not collect payment until after a meal is served must accept that legal tender for the debt incurred in purchasing the meal.</p><p>The right, in many jurisdictions, of a trader to refuse to do business with any person means a purchaser may not insist on making a purchase and so declaring a legal tender in law, as anything other than an offered payment for debts already incurred would not be effective.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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