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livery ; if payable to A. B. or bearer, they arc payable to 

 bearer, as if A, B. were not mentioned. But to the trans- 

 fer of thofe payable to order, it is neccffary, in addition to 

 deliverv, there {hould be fomethinp;, by which the payee 

 may appear to exprcfs his order. This additional circum- 

 lb.nce is called an " indorfement." See Indorsement. 



By the very aft of drawing a bill, the drawer come.s under 

 an implied engagement to the pavee, and to every fubfequent 

 holder, fairly entitled to the polfeffion, that the perfon on 

 whom lie draws is capable of binding himfelf by his accept- 

 ance ; that he is to be found at the place where he is defcribed 

 to be, if that defcription K- mentioned in the bill ; that if the 

 bill be duly prcfented to him, he will accept in writing on the 

 bill itfelf, according to its tenor; and that he will pay it 

 when it becomes due, if piefeuted in proper time for that 

 purpofe. In default of any of thefe particulars, the drawer 

 is liable to an aftion at the fuit of any of the parties before- 

 mentioned, on due diligence being exerciled on their parts, 

 not only for the payment of the original Uim mentioned in the 

 bill, but alfo in fome cafes for damage.;, iiitcreft, and cofts ; 

 and he is cq.ially anfwerable, whether the bill was drawn on 

 his own account, or on that of a third perfon ; for the holder 

 of the bill is not to be affctlL-d by the circumilanot s that may 

 cxid between tiie drawer and another ; the perfonal credit of 

 the drawer being pledged for the due honour of the bill. 

 If a man write his name on a blank piece of paper, and de- 

 liver it to another, with authority to draw on it a bill of ex- 

 change to any amount, at any dillance of time, he renders 

 himfelf liable to be called on as the drawer of any bill fo 

 formed by the perfon to whom he has given the authority. 

 If acceptance be refufed, and the bill returned, this is notice 

 to the drawer of the refnfal of the drawee ; and then the 

 period, when the debt of the former is to be confi-iered as 

 contrafted, is the moment when he draws the bill ; and an 

 atlion may be immediately commenced againll him, though 

 the regular time of payment, according to the tenor of the 

 bill, be not arrived ; for the drawee, not having given 

 credit, which was the ground of the contraft, what the 

 drawer had undertaken has not been performed. When a bill 

 of exchange is indorfed by the perfon to whom it was made 

 payable, as between the indorfer and indorfee, it is a new bill 

 of exchange ; as it is alfo between every fubfequent indorfer 

 and indorfee; the indorfer, therefore, with refpeft to all the 

 parties fubfequent to him, (lands in the place of the drawer, 

 being a collateral fecurity for the acceptance and payment 

 of the bill by the drawee ; his indorfcment impofes on him 

 the fame engagement that the drawing of the bill does on the 

 drawer ; and the period when that engagement attaches, is 

 the time of the indorfcment. Nor will any thing difcharge 

 the indorfer from his engagement, but the abfolutc payment 

 of the money ; not even a judgment recovered againft the 

 drawer or any previous indorfer ; neither is his engagement 

 difcharged by an iueffeftual execution againft the drawer, or 

 any prior or fubfequent indorfer. The engagement of the 

 drawer and indorfers depends on certain conditions to be per- 

 formed by the holder of the bill, and without the performance 

 of which he has no remedy againft them. 



When the payment of the bill is limited to a certain time 

 after fight, the holder mull prefent it for acceptance, other- 

 wife the time of payment will n;ver come. Although it 

 bas never been directly determined, whether the holder of 

 a bill, payable at a certain time after date, be bound to 

 prefent it for acceptance immediately on receiving it, or 

 whether he may wait till it become due, and then prefent 

 it for payment ; yet in praftice it often iiappcns that a 

 bill ie negotiated and transferred through many bands, with- 



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out acceptance, and not prefented to the drawee till the time 

 of pavment ; and no objeftion is ever made on that ac- 

 count.' If, however, on th ■ holder prefenting the bill for 

 acceptance, this be refufed, he is bound to give legular notice 

 to all the preceding parties to whom he intends to rcfort for 

 non-payment ; and if on account of the holder's delay, any 

 lofs be' incurred by the failure of any of thefe parties, he 

 muft bear this lofs. It is alfo the duty of the holder of a 

 bill, whether accepted or not, to prefent it for payment 

 within a limited time ; otherwife the law will imply that pay- 

 ment has been made, and it would be prejudicial to com- 

 merce, if a bill might be produced to charge the draw^er at 

 any diftance of time, when ill accounts might be adjufted 

 between him and the drawee. A prcfc;.tment either for pay- 

 ment or acceptance nuft be made at feafonable hours, which 

 are the common hours of bu!;:iefs in the place where the 

 party, to whom the bill is prefer.ted, refides. If acceptance 

 or payment be refufed, or the drawee of the bill, or the 

 maker of the note, has become iufolvent, or has abfconded, 

 notice from the holder himfelf muft be given to the preced- 

 ing parties, and in this notice it mull be added, that the 

 holder does not intend to give him credit. What may 

 be confidered as a reafonable time, within which notice fhould 

 be criven, either of non-acceptance or non-payment, has been 

 fubjecl to much doubt and uncertainty. It was once held, 

 that a fortnight was a reafonable time ; but that period is 

 now much contrafted. With refpeft: to acceptance, it is 

 ufual to leave a bill for that purpofe with the drawee till 

 the next day ; but if he, when called upon the next day, 

 delay or refufe to accept according to the tenor of tlie bill, 

 it is now an eftablilhed rule, where the parties, to whom no- 

 tice is to be given, leiide at a different place from the holder 

 and drawee, that notice fhould be fent by the next poft ; and 

 the fame rule obtains in cafe of non-payment. Alfo in cafe 

 of the drawee of the bill, or maker of the note, having ab- 

 fconded, or not being found, notice of thefe circumftances, 

 in cafe either of non-acceptance or non-payment, muft be 

 fent by the firft poft. Confiderable difficulty has occurred 

 in eftabhfliing a general rule in this refpeft, where the party 

 entitled to notice refides in or near the place in which the 

 holder lives. The court, however, has on feveral occafions 

 laid it down 33 a principle, that what (hall be confidered as 

 a reafonable time in cafe of notice, and alfo of demand of 

 payment, is a queftion of law ; and this feems to have been 

 fully eftabli(hed, and it is undcrftood generally, that a demand 

 mull be made, and notice given, as foon as under all the cir- 

 cumftances it is poflible to do fo. As to the manner in which 

 notice is given, either of non-acceptance or non payment, 

 there is a remarkable difference between inland and foreign 

 bills. In the former no particular form of words is necef- 

 fary to entitle the holder to recover againft the drawer or 

 indorfers, the amount of the bill, on failure of the drawee or 

 acceptor ; it is fufficient if it appear that the holder means to 

 give no credit to the latter, but to hold the former to their 

 refponfibility. But in foreign bifls, other formalities are re- 

 quired. If the perfon to whom the bill is addrcffed, on pre- 

 fentment, will not accept it, the holder is to carry it to a 

 perfon vcfted with a public charafter, who is to go to the 

 drawee and demand acceptance ; and if he then refufe, the 

 offker is there to make a minute on the bill itfelf, confifting 

 of his initials, the month, the day, and the year, with his 

 charges for minuting. He muft afterwards draw up a folemn 

 declaration, that the bill has been prefented for acceptance, 

 which was refufed, and that the holder intends to recover all 

 damages which he, or the deliverer of the money to the 

 drawer, or any other, may fuftain on account of the non- 



accept 



