In it, Sir Edward Coke opined that a part payment of a debt could not extinguish the obligation to pay the whole.
Pinnel sued Cole, in an action of debt upon a bond, for the sum of £8 10s.
payment of a lesser sum on the day in satisfaction of a greater, cannot be any satisfaction for the whole, because it appears to the Judges that by no possibility, a lesser sum can be a satisfaction to the plaintiff for a greater sum: but the gift of a horse, hawk, or robe, etc.
For it shall be intended that a horse, hawk, or robe, might be more beneficial to the plaintiff than the money.
And for this cause judgment was given for the plaintiff.Pinnel's case was followed by Foakes v Beer [1884][2] and Jorden v Money [1854].