Broadly, the New York default is a departure from the historical norm, and the debtor/creditor "exception" is a return to it. The historical view is that the er

Broadly, the New York default is a departure from the historical norm, and the debtor/creditor "exception" is a return to it. The historical view is that the error is the payor's; they're the ones that should bear the burden. There's also a value to finality. Particularly given that we didn't have instant or even next-day transactions when these laws were written, allowing a creditor to move on with their lives once the debt seemed to have been repaid makes sense. And not having an exception would allow debtors to pay their debt and then reconstitute it days later if they changed their mind. Having this rule reduces the prevalence of that and the corresponding costs.