34 BILL of EXCHANGE. 
want of notice ; and, if it be proved on the part of the 
plaintiff, that from the time the bill was drawn, till the 
time it became due, the drawee never had any effects of 
the drawer in hv hands, notice to the latter is not riecef- 
fary in order to charge him, for he muft know this fact ; 
and, ii he had no effects in the drawee’s hands, lie had no 
right to draw upon him, and to expect payment from him; 
nor can he be injured by the non-payment of the bill, or 
the want of notice that it has been difhonoured. i Term 
Hep. 410. Yet, though it appear that the drawer had no 
etfedts in the hands of the drawee, no adtion can be main¬ 
tained againft the indorfor, if no notice was given him of 
the bill being difhonoured ; for, though the drawer may 
have received no injury, the indorfor, who muft be pre¬ 
fumed to have paid a valuable confideration for the bill, 
probably has. 2 Term Rep. 714. 
In the manner in which notice, either of non-acceptance 
or non-payment is given, there is a remarkable difference 
between inland and foreign bills ; in the former, no parti¬ 
cular form of words is neceftary, to entitle the holder to 
recover, againft the drawer or indorfors, the amount of 
•the bill on failure of the drawee or acceptor ; it is fuffi- 
cient if it appear that the holder means to give no credit 
to the latter, but to hold the former to their refponfibi- 
iity. 1 Term Rep. 170. But in foreign bills other formali¬ 
ties are required ; if the perfon to whom the bill is ad- 
drelfed, on prefentment will not accept it, the holder is 
to carry it to a perfon vefted with a public charadler, who 
is to go to the drawee and demand acceptance, and, if he 
then refute, the officer is there to make a minute on the 
bill itfelf, confiding of his initials, the month, the day, 
and the year, with his charges for minuting. Me muft af¬ 
terwards draw up a declaration, that the bill has been pre¬ 
heated for acceptance, which was refufed, and that the 
holder intends to recover all damages which he or the de¬ 
liverer of the money to the drawer, or any other, may fuf- 
lain on account of the non-acceptance : the minute is in 
common language termed the noting of the bill ; the fo- 
lemn declaration, the protcjl, and the perfon whofe office 
it is to do thefe adls a public notary, and to his proteftation 
all foreign courts give credit. Mai. 264. Mar. 16. This 
proteft muft be made within the regular hours of bufinefs, 
arid in fufficient time to have it lent to the holder’s cor- 
refpondent by the very next poll after acceptance is refufed; 
for, if it be not lent by that time, with a letter of advice, 
the holder will be conftrued to have difeharged the drawer 
and the other parties intitled to notice : and noting alone 
is not fufficient, there muft abfolutely be a proteft to ren¬ 
der the preceding parties liable. Bull. N. P. 271. 2 Term 
Rep. 713. But in this cafe the holder is not to fend the 
bill itfelf to his correfpondent; he muft retain it, in order 
to demand payment of the drawee when it becomes due. 
When the bill becomes due, whether it was accepted 
or not, it is again to be prefented for payment within the 
days of grace; and, if payment be refufed, the bill muft be 
protefted for non-payment, and the bill itfelf, together 
tyith the proteft, fent to the holder’s correfpondent, un- 
lefs he lfiall be ordered by him to retain the bill, with a 
profpeft of obtaining its difeharge from the acceptor. As 
this proteft on foreign bills muft be made on the laft day 
of grace, and immediate notice fent to the parties con¬ 
cerned, it feems eftabliftted that fuch a bill is payable, on 
demand made, at any time that day, within reafonable 
hours ; and that the acceptor has not the whole day to 
pay the bill. 4 Term Rep. 170. Where the original bill is 
loft, and another cannot be had of the drawer, a proteft 
may be made on a copy, efpecially where the refufal of 
payment is not for want of the original bill, but merely for 
another caufe. 1 Show. 164. The effetf of proteft for non- 
acceptance or non-payment, is to charge the drawer or 
indorfors, not only with the payment of the principal fum, 
but with intereft, damages, and expences; which latter 
confift ufually of the exchange, re-exchange, provifton, 
and poftage, together with the expences of the proteft. 
See Stra. 649. Whenever intereft is allowed, and a new 
adlion cannot be brought for it, which is the cafe on bills 
and notes, the intereft is to be calculated up to the time 
of fignirig final judgment. 2 Burr. 1086, 7 ; and fee 2 Term 
Rep. 52. 
The principal difference between foreign and inland bills 
of exchange at common law, feems to have been this. A 
proteft for non-acceptance or non-payment of a foreign bill 
was, and ftill is, eirentially neceftary to charge the drawer 
on the default of the drawee ; nothing, not even the prin¬ 
cipal fum, could or can at this time be recovered againft 
him without a proteft : no other form of notice having 
been admitted by the cuftom of merchants as fufficient: 
but on inland bills, fimple notice, within a reafonable time, 
of the default of the drawee, was held fufficient to charge 
the drawer, without the folemnity of a proteft ; the dif¬ 
ad vantage ariling from thence was this, that notice entitled 
the holder to recover only the fum in the original bill, 
which in many cafes might be a very ferious difad vantage : 
to remedy this inconvenience in fome degree, the ftatute 
9 and 10 Will. III. c. 17, and afterwards the flat. 3 and 4 
Anne, c.9, were palled; the profefted intention of which 
a£Is was to put inland bills on the fame footing as foreign 
ones; fo far as relates to the recovery of damages, inte¬ 
reft, and cofts, by means of the proteft they have done 
it ; but there are feveral minute particulars, in which, 
from an attentive perufal of the a£ts, it will appear they 
ftill differ. 
To the conftitution of a bill of exchange, as has been 
faid before, it is not neceftary that the words value received 
fliould be inferted ; and the want of thefe, in a foreign 
bill, cannot deprive the holder of the benefit of a proteft ; 
but that benefit in cafe of non-payment is not given bv the 
ftatuies to inland bills which want thefe words, and there¬ 
fore they cannot be protefted for non-payment; and the 
fecond act provides, that “ where thefe words are want¬ 
ing, or the value is lefs than 20I. no proteft is neceftary ei¬ 
ther for non-acceptance or non-payment,” the fafeft con- 
ftruflion of which feems to be, that inland bills, without 
the words value received, or under 20I. fttall continue as at 
common law, and (hall not be intitled to the privilege of 
a proteft, either for non-acceptance or non-payment. An 
inland bill, payable at fo many days after fight, cannot be 
protefted at all ; and no inland bill can be protefted, till 
after the expiration of the three days of grace ; notice of 
which proteft is by the ftatute to be fent within fourteen 
days after the proteft. \Term Rep. 170. There appears 
alfo to be another difference between foreign and inland 
bills of exchange ; for, where acceptance and payment both 
are refufed on foreign bills, it feems neceftary that there 
ftiould be a proteft for each ; but under the flat. 3 and 4 
Anne, c. 9, it feems that one proteft for either, on an in¬ 
land bill, is fufficient. On inland bills where damages, in¬ 
tereft, and cofts, or expences, are to be recovered, there 
is more indulgence in the time allowed for notice of non¬ 
payment than where only the principal fum is to be reco¬ 
vered ; for when there is no proteft for non-payment, pre- 
fentation for payment muft be made fo early on the laft 
day of grace, that the holder may give notice of non-pay¬ 
ment by the next port. That part of the ftat. 3 and 4 Anne, 
c. 9, which puts notes on the i'ane footing with inland bills,, 
makes no exprefs provifion for protefting them for non¬ 
payment ; but there can be no doubt that the practice un¬ 
der which fuch a proteft is frequently made is founded in 
juftice. 
When a bill is once accepted abfolutely, it cannot in any 
cafe be revoked, and the acceptor is at all events bound, 
though he hear of the drawer’s having failed the next mo¬ 
ment, even if the failure was before the acceptance. The 
acceptor may however be difeharged by an exprefs decla¬ 
ration of the holder, or by fomething equivalent to fuch 
declaration. Doug. 237, (249.) But no circumftances of 
indulgence (hewn to the acceptor by the holder, nor an 
attempt by him to recover of the drawer, w ill amount to 
an. exprefs declaration of dilcharge. Neither will any 
length of time fltort of the ftatute of limitations, nor the 
receipt 
