Bills and notes for less than twenty shillings. Date. Bills and notes for the payment of any sum of money less than twenty shillings are void (a). Bills or notes made in England, being negotiable or transferable for the payment of twenty shillings and less than five pounds, or on which such sum shall remain undischarged, must specify the name and place of abode of the person to whom and to whose order the bill or note is payable, attested by one subscribing witness, and bear date before or at the time of drawing or issuing, and be made payable within twenty-one days after the day of the date, and is not transferable or negotiable after the time thereby limited for payment (b). The date should be clearly expressed, and, to avoid erasions or alterations, it should be written in words. The date is not necessary in a bill or note, except where it is payable at a certain time after date, and if there be no date when so payable, the time will be computed from the day the bill or note was issued or made, which may be proved by parol or other circumstantial evidence (c). But the date of the bill or note is always primá facie evidence of the time when it was issued (d). A mere omission, or a clear mistake of the date, may be corrected without avoiding the instrument, but any alteration in the date except with the consent of the acceptor, would invalidate the instrument (e). A bill or note, except where expressly provided by statute, would be valid, though it be either antedated or postdated (ƒ). But postdating a bill or note, in order to make it payable at a longer interval, though it does not now affect the stamp duty, would render the bill or note invalid (g). Bills or notes for more than twenty shillings and less than five pounds, or on which more than twenty pounds and less than five pounds remain undischarged, must bear date before or at the time of (a) 48 Geo. 3, c. 88, s. 2. (b) 17 Geo. 3, c. 30, s. 1, made perpetual by 27 Geo. 3, c. 16. (c) Armit v. Breame, 2 Ld. Raym. 1076; Giles v. Bourne, 6 M. & S. 73 ; De la Courtier v. Bellamy, 2 Show. 422; Mayne v. French, 3 B. & P. 173; Anderson v. Weston, 6 Bing. N. C. 296; Sinclair v. Baggaley, 4 M. & W. 312; Smith v. Batten, 1 M. & Rob. 341; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 80, s. 10. (d) Anderson v. Weston, 6 Bing. N. C. 296; Harrison v. Clifton, 17 L. J. 233. (e) Brutt v. Peard, Ry. & Mood. 38; Fitch v. Jones, 5 E. & B. 244; Master v. Miller, 4 T. R. 320; 2 House of Lords, 140; Birchfield v. Moore, 23 L. J. 261, Q. B.; Gardner v. Walsh, 5 E. & B. 83; Bathe v. Taylor, 15 East, 412; Walton v. Hastings, 4 Camp. 223; Outhwaite v. Luntley, 4 Camp. 179. (f) Pasmore v. North, 13 East, 517. (g) Serle v. Norton, 9 M. & W. 309; Field v. Woods, 7 Ad. & E. 114. drawing or issuing thereof, and not on any day subsequent thereto (a). The bill or note should always specify the place where it is Place. drawn or made, although it is not essential to the validity of the ment. bill or note, except in the case of bills under five pounds (b). A Time of paybill of exchange or promissory note is usually drawn or made payable either at sight or on demand, or at the expiration of any number of days or months after sight; at the fixed day of the month, or at the end of a certain number of days, months, or years, or at the expiration of a certain number of days, weeks, months, or years after date; at one or more usances, or it may be on a certain known public event, such as a fair or market, or by instalments at different times. Where no time is fixed for payment, the bill or note is held payable on demand (c). The time of payment must be certain, and not contingent; it matters not how distant be the time provided it be a time that must happen (d). Thus a bill or note would be valid if payable any time after the death of an individual, or on the drawee or maker's coming of age (e). But where the event is doubtful or contingent, as " if living at the time," or "provided I marry,' or "when realised," the bill or note would be invalid (ƒ). Bills or notes under £5 must be made payable within the space of twenty-one days from the date, and no bill or note for £5 can be made or negotiated payable on demand except by bankers, under special statutes (g). at The name of drawer or maker must be subscribed, and there ought to be no uncertainty about him. The name of the drawer is usually written at the bottom of the bill, but it is not indispensable, and may be written in any part in the body of the bill (h). The name must be in the handwriting of the individual, but may be even in printed letters, if the party is in the habit (f) Kingston v. Long, 4 Doug. 19; Roberts v. Peake, 1 Burr. 323; Haydock v. Lynch, 2 Ld. Raym. 1563; Morgan v. Jones, 1 C. & J. 162; Richardson v. Martyr, 25 L. T. Q. B. 64; Alexander v. Thomas, 16 Q. B. 333. (g) 17 Geo. 3, c. 30; 7 Geo. 4, c. 6; 9 Geo. 4, c. 65. (h) Taylor v. Dobbins, 1 Str. 399; Elliott v. Cooper, 1 Str. 609; Cowie v. Stirling, 6 E. & B. 333. Name of drawer. Name of payee. Order or promise to pay. Payable at all events. of using the same (a). A note may be made by two or more persons jointly. If signed by several persons, as "we promise," the note is joint only. If signed by two or more persons, as "I promise," the note is several as well as joint. That a note be joint and several, it must be expressly stated to that effect (b). A bill or note may be payable to an individual, or to his order, or to bearer; but the name of the individual intended must be sufficiently clear and capable of being identified. Where the name of the payee is uncertain at the time when the note was made, the note would be payable on a contingency, and is void (c). A promissory note payable to the maker's own order is a promise to pay to the person, to whom the maker should afterwards indorse it (d). A bill of exchange drawn and issued in blank without the name of the payee may be filled up by the bona fide holder with his name (e). A bill or note payable to a fictitious payee or his order is void as between the original parties who put the instrument into circulation, yet a bona fide holder may recover upon it against all the parties who knew the fictitious character of the transaction (ƒ). To constitute a bill or note, there must be an order or a promise to pay absolutely and unconditionally. A mere acknowledgment of debt, or an I. O. U., or any paper importing a desire to pay as a matter of favour and not of right, is not a promissory note (g). A bill or note must be payable at to any condition or contingency (h). all events, and not subject Thus, a promise to pay would not be valid as a promissory note if it contains conditional words, such as "provided the terms mentioned in (a) Schneider v. Norris, 2 M. & S. (b) March v. Ward, Peake, 130; (d) Brown v. De Winton, 6 C. B. 336; (e) Crutchley v. Clarence, 2 M. & S. 90; Atwood v. Griffin, 1 R. & M. 425; Crutchley v. Mann, 5 Taunt. 529. (f) Vere v. Lewis, 3 T. R. 152; Benet v. Gibson, 3 T. R. 51; Collis v. Emmet, 1 H. Bl. 313; Gibson v. Hunter, 2 H. Bl. 187. (g) Fisher v. Leslie, 1 Esp. 426; Gould v. Coombs, 1 C. B. 543; Little v. Slackford, M. & M. 171; Childers v. Boulnois, D. & R. 8; Ashby v. Ashby, 3 M. & P. 186. (h) Kingston v. Long, 4 Doug. 9; Roberts v. Peake, 1 Burr. 325; Worley v. Harrison, 3 Ad. & E. 669. certain letters shall be complied with," or provided “he shall leave me sufficient or I shall be otherwise able to pay it," or "if I marry within two months," or four years after date if I am living"(a). Nor can the bill or note be made payable out of a particular fund, as "out of the balance due," or "on the sale of produce immediately when sold," or "out of the proceeds of a shipment," or "out of any half-pay." The bill must be payable generally and at all events (b). Bills or notes drawn or made in any part, and payable in any Inland and other part of the British islands, viz., Great Britain, Ireland, foreign bills. Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, and the islands adjacent, are inland bills and notes (c). Bills drawn in the United Kingdom and payable in any foreign country, or drawn in any foreign country and payable in the United Kingdom, are foreign bills. Though the bill was written and accepted in England, if it be transmitted abroad for the signature of the drawer, and it is there drawn, the bill is a foreign bill. sets. Foreign bills are usually issued in sets of several parts, each Bills drawn in part containing a condition that it shall be payable only so long as all the other parts remain unpaid; thus, the first is payable only "second and third unpaid," the second "first and third unpaid," and the third "first and second unpaid," but the whole set constitute but one bill. All the copies of the set must otherwise be identically the same. When a bill is drawn.in a set each part ought to be delivered to the person in whose favour it is made (d). The drawer cannot refuse to deliver the second or third of exchange when required. FOREIGN LAWS. France.-A bill of exchange, or lettre de change, must be drawn from one place upon another; it must be dated, it must specify the sum to be paid, the name of the person who is to pay, the time and place where the payment is to be made, and (a) Palmer v. Pratt, 9 Moore, 358; Carlos v. Fancourt, 5 T. R. 482; Ex parte Tootel, 4 Ves. jun. 372; Beardesley v. Baldwin, 2 Stra. 1151. (b) Dawkes v. Lord de Loraine, 2 W. Bl. 782; Stevens v. Hill, 5 Esp. 247; Hill v. Halford, 2 B. & P. 413. (c) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 97, s. 7. Requisites of change. lettres de A person cannot draw the name of the person in whose favour it is drawn. The bill may be drawn in favour of a third person, or of the drawer himself, provided it be made to order. It must also indicate the value given for it, whether in specie, in merchandise, on account, or in any other manner. A bill of exchange must be in writing. If the bill is drawn in a set it must specify it. A bill of exchange wanting any of these requisites is only a simple promise. Must be drawn The first condition to the validity of a bill of exchange in France from one place upon another. is, that it be drawn from one place upon another, and the reason is, that, otherwise, the various contingencies of abundance or scarcity of money and other risks attending the contract of exchange would be altogether wanting. The date includes the day when and the place where the bill is drawn. The time is required to establish the capacity of the drawer either in respect of his age or in respect of his solvency. To antedate a bill is a misdemeanor. The place is required to prove that the first condition of the bill has been fulfilled. The sum to be paid must be precise. It may be expressed in cyphers or in words. The name of the drawee should be clearly expressed. It is usual to write it below the bill. The drawer cannot himself be the party to pay the bill, otherwise it will no longer be a bill of exchange. A person may draw upon his commission agent, or upon himself. upon his house in another place when he has two houses of trade. But he could not draw upon his clerk, or upon his wife, where there is a community of goods between them. A bill of exchange must state the time when it will be paid. It must be payable on the expiration of a certain number of days, weeks, or months, or after one or many usances, or at so many days, weeks, or months, after sight. The place where the payment will be made must be set forth. Where no place is indicated by the party himself the drawer will intend it to be payable at the domicile of the drawee. The bill of exchange must express the name of the party to whom it must be paid. The bill must be made to order; if made only in favour of the payee, he will be entitled to exact the payment, but he cannot indorse the bill to another. The bill may be payable to the order of the payee, or of a third person, or of the drawer himself. Though the words " to order" are not inserted, it will be sufficient if there be equivalent words. The value received, and in what kind, must be stated. The words " valeur reçue comptant" |