Slashdot Mirror

According to the Royal Mint:

In order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender it is necessary, for example, actually to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded. [emphasis added]

At least in the UK, if you want to force someone to accept legal tender to settle your debt you'd better have the exact amount on hand, or else be willing to overpay. Overpayment on your part does not create a debt on their part for the difference.

If you are in debt for £10,000, the creditor can't refuse repayment if you turn up with a bundle of £20 notes. That cash is legal tender for repaying any debt, so the creditor can't demand a cheque instead, or gold. They must accept cash.

There are exceptions for low-value coins, in the UK. The creditor is allowed to refuse to accept a truckload of 1p coins (1,000,000 coins), or 100,000 10p coins. Creditors must accept low-value coins for debts up to £10 (depending on the coin), but for larger debts can demand £1 or £2 coins (high value coins) or paper money.

http://www.royalmint.com/about... (NB £5, £20 and £100 coins are ceremonial).

Bitcoin is not legal tender in the UK, the same way US dollars aren't. The creditor could choose to accept repayment in either currency, but can't demand it.

English bank notes (though not Scottish) are in fact legal tender in the UK.

Untrue. Legal tender means it is legal to OFFER payment in cash. However, nobody is required to ACCEPT your cash payment.

"Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender."
http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/legal-tender-guidelines

So ok, no one is required to accept the payment, but they are essentially required to write off the debt if you offer payment in cash, whether or not they actually accept it.

There is a £5 coin produced but it isn't legal tender as it is only used for commemorative coins.

Actually they are. http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/legal-tender-guidelines

there are loads of commemorative coins that are legal tender, but might not actually get accepted anywhere but a London bank or back at the Royal Mint.

I did mean ordinary coinage, not these exceptional ones - I don't see anyone accepting a coin weighing a kilogram for example.

there are loads of commemorative coins that are legal tender, but might not actually get accepted anywhere but a London bank or back at the Royal Mint.

I did mean ordinary coinage, not these exceptional ones - I don't see anyone accepting a coin weighing a kilogram for example.

(Here in the UK, pennies are only legal tender for debts up to 25p, which seems somewhat more sensible.)

20p actually; see:
http://www.royalmint.com/corporate/policies/legal_tender_guidelines.aspx

It is UK law that there is a maximum that can be paid with each value of coin. See question 12 of http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corpor ate/Home/Corp_faq.asp

There are several interesting links between the Royal Mint and Neal Stephenson's ( Slashdot Interview) Baroque Cycle , including references to Hooke and Newton, to whom the quotation "standing on the shoulders of giants", which is engraved around the edge of £2 coins, is ascribed. The Trial of the Pyx, which forms part of the plot, exists, and has been carried out ever since 1282.

As the AC below notes, those coins are found throughout the UK. For a long time pound notes still circulated in Scotland after they'd been withdrawn from England and Wales; I don't know if that's still true, or what the NI situation is.

Royal Mint on pound coins

My favourite thing around the side of the coin is DECUS ET TUTAMEN, because it is referring to itself rather neatly :-)

http://www.royalmint.com/talk/default.asp, and

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/index.htm , and finally

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/knowyourn otes.pdf

Summarizing, thats what we'd get. Fewer coins in change but a looooooooonger time for cashiers to figure out how to give it. If someone wants to improve the coining system #change_coins/transaction alone seems like poor criteria. You need to figure out a system that also makes it easy to perform day to day calculations. Maybe even theold british system would be nicer than 29ct coins.

But it's not a penny! It's a cent. This is a penny – don't you have enough silly names for coins without pinching ours?

Well, I said it was netscape-unfriendly. For those of you getting badly-formatted microsoft error pages, try the 'British Coinage' and 'News' links in the left hand frame on the Royal Mint site.

The Royal Mint [Danger: Netscape-unfriendly site] has commemorated Marconi's 100th anniversary in UK coinage with the current issue of the UK Two Pound Coin, News item here and picture of the thing on the right hand side of the first picture on this page

The Royal Mint [Danger: Netscape-unfriendly site] has commemorated Marconi's 100th anniversary in UK coinage with the current issue of the UK Two Pound Coin, News item here and picture of the thing on the right hand side of the first picture on this page

The Royal Mint [Danger: Netscape-unfriendly site] has commemorated Marconi's 100th anniversary in UK coinage with the current issue of the UK Two Pound Coin, News item here and picture of the thing on the right hand side of the first picture on this page