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IS wholly without remeJy at the common law," relief is 

 therefore prayed at the clianccUor's hands, and alfo proccls 

 of fubpocna againft the defendant, to compel him to anfwer 

 upon oath to all the matter charged in the bill. See Suit 

 in Equity. 



B I L I. »/ Exception to Eviihnre. SeeExCEPTiON. 



Bill of Exchange, in Commerce ^nA Law, a (hort note, or 

 V/ritini;, ordiringthe payment of a fum of money in one place, 

 to fomc perfon afligned by the drawer, or remitter, in confi- 

 deration of the like value paid to him in another place. (See 

 Remittance.) Or, it is an open letter ofrequeft from one 

 man to another, defiring him to pay a fum of money named in 

 it to a third pirfon, on liis account, or to any other to whom 

 that third perfon (liall order it to be paid ; or it may be made 

 payaMe to bearer. This kind of ncgociable fecurity for 

 money, invented among merchants in different countries, ferves 

 to facilitate the remittanceof money from the one to the other, 

 and of courfe the coiiduft of commercial tranfaftions ; fo 

 that, fince its firft introdudion, it has extended itfelf to al- 

 moft all pecuniary ncgociations. 



Bills of e.schange were unknown in the ancient Roman 

 commerce, as well as jurifprudence. According to the 

 common opinion, they are faid to have been brought into 

 general ufe by the Jews and Lombards, when banifhcd for 

 their ufury and other vices ; who found means to withdraw 

 their cffecis, which they had lodged in the hands of friends, 

 both in France and England, by fccrct letters and bills con- 

 ceived in (liort precife terms, like the modern bills of ex- 

 change, which they negociated by the affiftance of merchants 

 and travellers. The Jews were baniflied out of France by 

 Philip Auguflus, in 1143, and out of England, in 1290; 

 but the ufe of paper credit was introduced in the Mogul 

 empire in China, in 1236. It further appears, that bills of 

 exchange were negociated at Hamburgh, in 1188 ; and it 

 has been faid, that the faftion of the Gibellins, being 

 expelled Italy by the Guclphs, towards the clofe of the 

 13th century, retired to Amfterdam, and ufed the fame 

 means for the recovery of their eifefls in Italy as the Jews 

 liad done ; and hence, as fome have thought, the Dutch 

 merchants took the hint of negociating bills of exchange, 

 and foon fpread the praftice throughout Europe. The 

 fame GibL-lliiis are faid to be the inventors of the re-change, 

 or re-cxchange, on account of damages, charges, and intcreft, 

 when bills of exchange, which they called " poli/.zo di cam- 

 bio," are not paid, but returned on proteft. In 1307, bills 

 of exchange fccm to have been in ufe in England, though their 

 nature was not well underdood at a much later period ; and 

 the firft. reference to them in an aft of parliament, occurs in 

 1381, when they were forbidden to be ufed without the 

 king's licence. In 1394, an ordinance was ilTiKd by the 

 city of Barcelona, that bills of exchange fhould be accepted 

 within twenty-four hours after they were prcfcnted, and that 

 the acceptance fliu\ild be written on the back of the bill. 

 Moreover, in 1 404, the magiftrates of Bruges requcfted thofe 

 of Barcelona to ii.form them what was the common praftice, 

 in regard to bills of cxcliange, when the perfon who prcfcnted 

 •T bill raiftd money on it in an unufual manner, in the cafe of 

 its not being paid, and by thefe means increafed the expences 

 fo much, that the drav/tr would not confent to fuftaiti the 

 lofs. The form of the bill, fuch as is now ufed, is fcen in 

 the memorial, which alfo fpeaks of ufance; and it alfo ap- 

 pears, that firft and fecond bills were at that time drawn, 

 and that when bills were not accepted, it was cuftomary to 

 protcft them. Anderfon's Hift. Com. vol. i. Beckman'a 

 Hitt. of Invent, vol. iii. p. 462. 



In common fpeech, a bill of exchange is frequently called 

 a " draught ;" but the formsr ia the mors legal, as well as 



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mercantile expreflion. The perfon who makes or draws 

 the bill is called the " drawer," and he to whom it is addreffed 

 is denominated the " drawee;" and when he undertakes to 

 pay the amount, he is called the " acceptor." The perfon 

 to whom it is ordered to be paid is called the " payee ;" and 

 if he appoint another to receive the money, this other is cal- 

 led the "indorfee," as the payee is, with refpeCl to him, the 

 "indorfer;" and any one who happens for the time to be 

 in pofTeffion of the bill is called the " holder" of it. The 

 time at which the payment is limited to be made is various, 

 according to the circumftances of the parties, and the dif- 

 tance of their refpcftive places of refidence. Sometimes the 

 amount is made payable at fight ; fometimes at fo many 

 days after fight ; at other times at a certain interval from 

 the date. See Usance. 



Where the time of payment is limited by months, it muft 

 be computed by calendar, not lunar months ; and where 

 one month is longer than the fucceeding, it is a rule not to 

 go in the computation into a third. Thus on a bill dated 

 the 28th, 29th, 30th, or 31ft of January, and payable one 

 month after date, the time expires on the zSth of February, 

 in common years, and in the three latter cafes, in leap 

 year, on the 29th ; to which are to be added the " days of 

 grace." Where a bill is payable at fo many days after 

 fight, or from the date, the day of preientment, or of the 

 date, is excluded. Thus, where a bill payable 10 days 

 after fight is prefented on the firll day of a month, the lo 

 days expire on the nth; where it is dated the firft, and 

 payable 20 days after date, thefe expire on the 21ft. (Ld. 

 Raym 281. Stra. 829.) It is a cullom among merchants, 

 that a perfon to whom a bill is addrefted, (hall be allowed a 

 few days for payment, beyond the time mentioned in the 

 bill, called "days of grace." In Great Britain and Ireland, 

 three days are allowed ; in other places more. If the lad 

 of thefe three days happens to be Sunday, the bill is to be 

 paid on Saturday ; but thefe days of grace are not allowed 

 on bills payable at fight. If bills become due on Sunday, or 

 on fuch holidays, when the law forbids bufinefs to be done, 

 payment mull be demanded or proteft made for non-payment 

 on the preceding day. 



' Bills of exchange arc either " foreign" or " inland ;" the 

 firft being thofe which pafs from one country to another, 

 and the latter fuch as pafs between parties refiding in the 

 lame country : and by the confent of merchants, certain cuf- 

 toms arc eftablilhed with regard to foreign bills, which have 

 been adopted as part of the law in every commercial ftate. 

 Inland bills of exchange do not feem to have been very fre- 

 quent in England before the reign of Charles II. (6 Mod. 29); 

 and foreign bills were much more regarded by the law thaa 

 inland ones, as being thought of more public concern in the 

 advancement of commerce. But at length the legiflature, 

 by two ftatutes, viz. 9 & 10 W. 3. c 17. and 3 & 4 Ann. 

 c. 9. has fet both forts of bills nearly on the fame footing ; 

 fo that what was the law and cuftom of merchants, with 

 regard to the one, is now, in mod refpefts, the eftabhihed 

 law of the country, with regard to the other. 



PromifTory notes, or notes of hand, are a plain and direft 

 engagement in writing to pay a fum fpecified at the time limi- 

 ted in it, to a perfon therein named, or to his order, or to 

 the bearer at large. Thefe notes were at firft confidered 

 merely as evidence of a debt ; and it was held that a pro- 

 miftbry note was not affignable or indorfible, within the cuf. 

 torn of merchants ; and tliat if fuch a note had been indorfed 

 or afligned over, the perfon to whom if was fo indorfed or 

 afiigncd, could not maintain an aclion within the cuftom 

 againft the drawer of the note ; nor could even the perfon, to 

 whom it was in the firft inftance made payable, bring fuch 

 3 aftion. 



