B I L 



403 



B I L 



The acceptance of an inland bill must be in writing on 

 the bill itself. A foreign bill may be accepted verbally or 

 by a written paper, such as a letter, not part of the bill 

 itself. An engagement to accept a bill not thsn drawn 

 is not, in contemplation of law, an acceptance. 



An acceptance may be either absolute or qualified. An 

 absolute acceptance is an engagement to pay the bill ac- 

 cording to the tenor : a qualified acceptance is when a bill 

 is accepted conditionally ; as that the drawee will pay when 

 certain goods shall be sold, or when certain funds shall come 

 to his hands, or the like, and in this case the acceptor is not 

 bound until the fulfilment of the condition. 



A bill may also be accepted partially, as to pay a sum 

 short of that for which the bill is drawn, or at a different time 

 or place. In all cases of a conditional or partial acceptance, 

 the holder ought to give notice thereof to all parties whom 

 he intends to hold liable on default. 



An acceptance may also be qualified as to the place of 

 payment, but in inland bills this can only be done by the 

 use of restrictive words : as for instance, ' Accepted payable 

 at Sir Jas. Esdaile and Co., and not elsewhere.' 



If the drawee refuse or neglect to accept, any third party, 

 after protesting the non-acceptance by the drawee, may ac- 

 cept for the honour of the drawer or any subsequent party, 

 and such an acceptance is called an acceptance supra pro- 

 test, or for honour. 



Upon the non-acceptance of a foreign bill, a protest is 

 made by the holder, or a public notary for him. Inland 

 bills need not be protested, and in practice are merely 

 noted for non-acceptance, which itself also is a useless 

 form. 



Notice of the non-acceptance must be given with all dili- 

 gence to every party to whom it is intended to resort for 

 payment, the want of such notice being a discharge from 

 liability to the drawer on the ground that he is prejudiced 

 by not receiving immediate information of the default, so as to 

 enable him to withdraw his effects from the hands of the 

 drawee, and to the indorsers for a similar reason, inasmuch as 

 their interests may be affected by the delay. If the drawer 

 had in truth no effects in the hands of the drawee, the 

 omission to give the drawer notice constitutes no objection 

 to the right of action as against him. Generally, the notice 

 must be given within twenty-four hours after the dishonour, 

 and each party on receiving such notice a allowed the same 

 interval for communicating to those who precede him upon 

 the bill. The notice may in all cases be sent by the post, 

 and it is sufficient to show that the letter containing it was 

 delivered into the post-office. 



The death, known insolvency, or even bankruptcy of the 

 drawee, affords no excuse, either at law or in equity, for a 

 neglect to give due notice of non-acceptance ; but any party 

 may, by agreement, or by a subsequent admission of his 

 liability, dispense with or waive the notice to which he is 

 entitled ; and where the residence of the party is unknown, 

 due diligence to discover it is all which the law requires. 



Of the indorsement and transfer of bills, something has 

 been already said. No form has been prescribed by the law 

 for the mode of indorsement, and in general the mere signature 

 of the party is sufficient. After an indorsement in full, the 

 holder can derive title only through the special indorsee, 

 whose signature therefore must appear upon the bill. An 

 indorsement is valid though made after the bill is become 

 due, but the holder in that case is entitled only to such ad- 

 vantages as might have been claimed by the last indorsee 

 before the maturity. 



After payment of a part, the bill may be indorsed over 

 for the residue. Bills payable to bearer may be transferred 

 by delivery only without indorsement. An indorsement 

 may be restricted by the words before mentioned, ' Pay A. B. 

 to my use,' or by any other expression clearly limiting the 

 authority to assign. 



A bonaftde holder for value is not affected by the want 

 of title in any previous indorser ; but gross negligence in 

 taking a bill which has been lost or stolen takes away the 

 right of action against all who were parties prior to the loss. 

 If the holder, under such circumstances, has a right to re- 

 cover upon the bill, it follows that the party who has lost it 

 is deprived of the right. But where no claim is made from 

 any other quarter, he may in general, through the medium 

 of a court of equity, obtain payment on giving an indem- 

 nity ; and it is provided by Stat. 9 and 10 Wm. III., c. 17, 

 . 3, ' that in case any inland bill for value received and 

 payable after dote shall happen to be lost or miscarried, 



within the time before limited for the payment of the samft, 

 fen the drawer of the said bill is and shall be obliged to 

 give another bill of the same tenor with that first given ; 

 the person to whom they are delivered giving security, if 

 demanded, to the drawer, to indemnify him against 'all 

 persons whatsoever, in case the said bills so alleged to bo 

 lost or miscarried shall be found again.' 



If it can be shown that the bill has been actually de- 

 stroyed, the amount is recoverable in a court of common 

 law. 



Of the presentment for payment, 8fC. The holder of a 

 bill is bound to present it to the draweu for payment at the 

 time when due, when a time of payment is specified, or 

 within a reasonable time after receipt of the bill when no 

 time is expressed. If he neglect to do so, not only is he 

 disabled from afterwards resorting to the drawer or in- 

 dorsers whose implied engagements are severally to pay 

 only in case of default by the drawee, and who are always 

 presumed to have sustained damage by such neglect on the 

 part of the holder but he loses also his remedy for the con- 

 sideration or debt in respect of which the bill was given or 

 transferred. As in the case of presentment for acceptance, 

 so in that of presentment for payment, the insolvency of the 

 acceptor furnishes no dispensation of presenting lor pay- 

 ment, as regards the drawer and indorsers; but to an action 

 against the acceptor presentment is not in any case a neces- 

 sary preliminary. If the acceptance be qualified as to the 

 place of payment in the manner before described, the pre- 

 sentment must be made at the place so specially indicated ; 

 but in general, a presentment at the domicile of the drawee 

 is sufficient, even though another place bo named upon the 

 bill. The presentment ought to be made after the expi- 

 ration of the days of grace, which have been before adverted 

 to. Bills payable on demand, or whore no dny of payment 

 is expressed, are not entitled to days of grace. 



The following is a statement (taken from M'Culloch's 

 Dictionary of Commerce) of the usance and days of grace 

 for bills drawn in London upon some of the chief commer- 

 cial cities. 



TO. d., TO. ., d. d., d. ., d. a., respectively denote months 

 after date, months after sight, days after date, days after 

 sight, days after acceptance- 



London on Usance. Days of Grace. 



Amsterdam 1 m.d, 6 



Rotterdam I m.d, 6 



Antwerp . 1 m.d. 6 



Hamburg I m.d. 12 



Altona . I m.d. 12 



Danzig , 14 d. d, 10 



Paris . 30 d.d. 10 



Bordeaux . 30 d.d. 10 



Bremen . 1 m.d. 8 



Barcelona . 60 d.d. 14 



Geneva . 30 d.d. 5 



Madrid . 2 m. s. 14 



Cadiz . 60 d.d. C 



Bilboa . 2 m.d. 14 



Gibraltar . 1m. s. 14 



Leghorn . 3 m.d. 



Leipzig . 14 d. a. 



Genoa , 3 m. d. 30 



Venice , 3 m.d. 6 



Vienna . 14 d.a. 3 



Malta , 30 d.d. 13 



Naples . 3 m. d. 3 



Palermo . 3 m. d. 



Lisbon . 30 d.s. 6 



Oporto . 30 d.s. 6 



Rio Janeiro 30 d. d. 6 



Dublin . 21 d.a. 3 



Cork . 21 d.s. 3 



It should be remarked however that many of these usances 

 are obsolete in the strict sense of the word. The same re- 

 mark applies to days of grace; in Hamburg or France, for 

 instance, it would be destructive of credit not to pay a bill on 

 the very day that it becomes due. In England three days 

 of grace are allowed and always taken, so that bills are not 

 presentable for payment until the three days are expired. 



In general, payment made on any part of the day on which 

 the bill is presented will be sufficient ; yet if payment bo 

 once refused, however early in that day, the bill is effectually 

 dishonoured by such refusal, and recourse may be at once 

 had to the gther parties, Tho requisites, with respect to 



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