10 11 1111 `Subscription N. Y. Tribune 1 Tin Wash Dish 13 Express Charges 3 00 400 76 113 3.00 6 50 4.00 56 10 50 4 50 3 00 13 5 00 150 20 31 175 05 200 13 4 00 3.00 25 75 10 12 2.00 156 06 46 96 BOOKS OF ACCOUNT. Ir is a well-established and salutary rule, that a person shall not be permitted to testify for himself, or in other words, manufacture his own testimony. Yet there is an exception to this rule. From the necessity of some cases, the law allows a person to furnish testimony for himself, by admitting his books of account, under certain restrictions, as evidence in his favor. Such testimony, however, is liable to the strictest scrutiny, and is considered by courts as the most suspicious kind, and as little better than the declarations of the party in his own favor. To entitle a person's books to be received in evidence, he would have to prove the following facts. 1st. That he had no clerk. 2d. That the books produced are his account-books. 3d. That some of the articles charged have been delivered. 4th. That he keeps fair and honest accounts; and this he must show by those who have dealt and settled with him. Account-books are not received as evidence of money lent, or money received or expended for the use of another; nor are they evidence of a single charge. If the entries in a book were made by a clerk, and he be dead, on showing that fact, and proving his handwriting, and that he was a clerk of the party, such entries would be received as evidence. BILLS OF EXCHANGE. A Bill of Exchange is an open letter of request, addressed by one person to a second, desiring him to pay a sum of money to a third, or to any other to whom that third person shall order it to be paid; or it may be made payable to bearer. Bills of Exchange are very useful to business men, who wish to send large sums of money to individ als living at a distance from them. "If A, living in New York, wishes to receive $1,000 which B, in London, owes him, he applies to C, who is going from New York to London, to pay him $1,000, and take his order or draft on B for that sum, payable at sight. A receives his debt by transferring it to C, who carries his money across the Atlantic, in the shape of a Bili of Exchange, without any danger or risk in the transportation; and on his arrival at London, he presents the bill to B and is paid.” The person who makes the bill is called the drawer, he to whom it is addressed, the drawee; and when he undertakes to pay the amount, he is then called the acceptor. The person to whom it is ordered to be paid is called the payee; and if he appoint another to receive the money, that other is called the endorsee, as the payee is, with respect to him, the endorser; any one who happens for the time to have the legal possession of the bill, is called the holder of it. A bill is either foreign or inland. It is called foreign when drawn by a person in one state or country, upon one in another state or country; and inland, when both drawer and drawee reside in the same state. These are generally termed drafts. Foreign bills are usually drawn in sets; that is, copies of the bill are made on separate pieces of paper, each part containing a condition that it shall continue payable only so long as the others remain unpaid. Whenever any one of a set is paid, the others are void; for the whole set constitute but one bill. The reason for drawing them in sets is, that in case one part is lost or accidentally destroyed, the other may be received by the drawee. OF THE REQUISITES OF A BILL. A Bill of Exchange must always be in writing. It is not necessary that it should be written in ink; it may be in pencil mark. No precise form of words is necessary. It will be sufficient if it contain an order or direction by one person to another, to pay money to a third. It must be for the payment of money, and money only; and the sum to be paid must be payable absolutely and at all events, and must not depend upon any circumstance that may, or may not happen; the exact sum also must be inserted. The place where, and on which it is drawn, should, in general, appear upon the face of the bill; there should also be a date, though its omission would not render the bill invalid. The time when bills are payable should be fixed; usually they are drawn payable at a certain time after date or after sight; that is, after acceptance. It is not essential to the validity of a bill that it be negotiable, or |