Opinion of the Court. made accordingly, the question whether there was error resulting in the judgment as rendered would be open to us; and we hold that this is so upon this record. In Redfield v. Ystalyfera Iron Co., 110 U. S. 174, 176, the court, speaking by Mr. Justice Matthews, said: "Interest is given on money demands as damages for delay in payment, being just compensation to the plaintiff for a default on the part of his debtor. Where it is reserved expressly in the contract, or is implied by the nature of the promise, it becomes part of the debt, and is recoverable as of right; but when it is given as damages, it is often matter of discretion. In cases, like the present, of recoveries for excessive duties paid under protest, it was held, in Erskine v. Van Arsdale, 15 Wall. 75, that the jury might add interest, the plaintiff ordinarily being entitled to it from the time of the illegal exaction. But where interest is recoverable, not as part of the contract, but by way of damages, if the plaintiff has been guilty of laches in unreasonably delaying the prosecution of his claim, it may be properly withheld." That was the case of an action begun on December 30, 1854, to recover from the collector of the port of New York money alleged to have been illegally exacted by him for customs duties and paid under protest, and, on the 15th of December, 1856, a verdict was taken by consent in the sum of $1500, subject to adjustment at the custom-house as to the amount. Judgment was finally entered August 22, 1883. The case made, which, by the terms of the verdict, either party was at liberty to turn into a bill of exceptions, set forth the entire evidence, but was not an agreed statement of facts, nor a special verdict, nor a finding of facts by the court, and contained no exceptions. It could not, therefore, be treated as the basis for an assignment of errors, but this court, notwithstanding, held that the Circuit Court erred in allowing interest from December, 1854, until August, 1883, a period of nearly twenty-nine years, because the delay in the prosecution of the suit was to be attributed to the plaintiff below. This was in view of the fact that "the verdict was purely formal, and was entered by consent, after the hearing of the evidence, merely as a basis for further Opinion of the Court. proceedings, which were to consist in an adjudication by the court of the questions of fact and law arising upon the testimony, and liquidation of the amount to be recovered in case the legal liability was found to exist." In United States v. Sanborn, 135 U. S. 271, 281, Redfield v. Ystalyfera Iron Co. was cited with approval, and the court said: "That the same rule should be applied against the government when, in a case like the present one, it has long delayed an assertion of its rights, without showing some reason or excuse for the delay, especially when it does not appear that the defendant has earned interest upon the money improperly received by him." In the case at bar, the findings give the grounds upon which the referee and the court concluded that the delay which had intervened was not fairly attributable to the plaintiffs, and the Circuit Court said that it "arose mainly from complications incident to the fact that the suit was one of a very large number of similar suits in which questions affecting the defendants' liability were being litigated from time to time with varying results; that any recovery which plaintiffs might have obtained would not have been acquiesced in by the government, but would have been further litigated; and that their claim was to that extent involved with the trials and results of the other suits that it was reasonable to postpone the trial in prospect of an adjustment, which at times seemed to be near at hand, but was constantly deferred by the vacillating action of the officers of the government." We are satisfied, however, that the judgment cannot be sustained upon those grounds. The indebtedness plaintiffs set up on the 16th of November, 1863, when the summons was served, was $1500. The indebtedness they were permitted to claim on the 8th of January, 1881, was $20,000. The amount of principal found by the referee, and for which judg ment was entered, was $14,394.95. Interest was allowed from the date of the several payments aggregating that amount, (all of which were made between November 1, 1853, and July 1, 1857,) to June 1, 1885, and from that date to the third of October, 1887, when judgment was signed for $51,302.48. The Opinion of the Court. bill of particulars was not, as we have said, served until May 11, 1882. All of the items sought to be recovered were barred by the statute of limitations. A suit had been brought as early as 1860 upon the same cause of action, had gone to judgment, and the amount had been promptly paid, but plaintiffs were nevertheless permitted to recover in this action upon the ground that these collections had not actually been included in the former recovery, and that the consent, verdict or stipulation waived the defence of res adjudicata. Whether the $1500 originally sued for contained interest, or what particular items were included, does not appear. There was no interest count, and it is doubtful if interest was at first specially declared for in any way. No account was rendered or demand made prior to the commencement of the suit, nor was any bill of particulars furnished at that time. As interest was recoverable as damages only, upon the principle of wrongful detention of the debt, or of unreasonable and vexatious delay in payment, we are not inclined to regard the debtor as in default for inability to inform the creditors of the extent of the deprivation of which they might complain; but, on the contrary, hold that the lack of diligence on the part of plaintiffs in the assertion of their claim was so great that no interest should have been allowed from anterior to the commencement of the suit, and that such allowance must be limited by the date of service and of the amendment which enabled plaintiffs to recover the larger amount, and to the sums claimed at those dates, respectively. The total principal awarded was $14,394.95, or $12,894.95 after deducting $1500. The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded, with a direction to the Circuit Court to enter judgment for $1500 and interest from November 16, 1863, and for $12,894.95 with interest from January 8, 1881. APPENDIX. AMENDMENTS TO RULES. IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. MAY 11, 1891. Ordered, That the following be adopted as Rules of this Court under the act approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to establish Circuit Courts of Appeals, and to define and regulate in certain cases the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, and for other purposes." Strike out "Rule 35," and insert instead thereof the following: RULE 35. ASSIGNMENT OF ERRORS. 1. Where an appeal or a writ of error is taken from a district court or a circuit court direct to this court, under section 5 of the act entitled "An act to establish circuit courts of appeals and to define and regulate in certain cases the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1891, the plaintiff in error or appellant shall file with the clerk of the court below, with his petition for the writ of error or appeal, an assignment of errors, which shall set out separately and particularly each error asserted and intended to be urged. No writ of error or appeal shall be allowed until such assignment of errors shall have been filed. When the error alleged is to the admission or to the rejection of evidence, the assignment of errors shall quote the full substance of the evidence admitted or rejected. When the error alleged is to the charge of the court, the assignment of errors shall set out the part referred to totidem verbis, VOL. 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