Sec. 1482. BILLS IN A SET.-Where a bill is drawn in a set, each part of the set being numbered and containing a reference to the other parts, the whole of the parts constitute one bill.

Sec. 1483. WHERE PARTS COME TO DIFFERENT HOLDERS.-Where two or more parts of a set are negotiated to different holders in due course the holder whose title first accrues is, as between such holders, the true owner of the bill. But nothing in this section affects the rights of a person who in due course accepts or pays the part first presented to him.

Sec. 1484. Where the holder of a set indorses two or more parts to different persons he is liable on every such part, and every indorser subsequent to him is liable on the part he has himself indorsed, as if such parts were separate bills.

Sec. 1485. How ACCEPTED AND LIABILITY OF ACCEPTOR.-The acceptance may be written on any part, and it must be written on one part only. If the drawee accepts more than one part, and such accepted parts are negotiated to different holders in due course, he is liable on every such part as if it were a separate bill.

Sec. 1486. When the acceptor of a bill drawn in a set pays it without requiring the part bearing his acceptance to be delivered up to him, and that part at maturity is outstanding in the hands of a holder in due course, he is liable to the holder thereon.

Sec. 1487. Except as herein otherwise provided, where any one part of a bill drawn in a set is discharged by payment or otherwise the whole bill is discharged.

Sec. 1488. PROMISSORY NOTES AND CHECKS.-A negotiable promissory note, within the meaning hereof, is an unconditional promise in writing, made by one person to another, signed by the maker, engaging to pay on demand or at a fixed or determinable future time a sum certain in money to order or to bearer. Where a note is drawn to the maker's own order it is not complete until indorsed by him.

Sec. 1489. A check is a bill of exchange drawn on a bank payable on demand. Except as herein otherwise provided, the provisions hereof applicable to a bill of exchange payable on demand apply to a check.

Sec. 1490. WHEN CHECK MUST BE PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT.-A check must be presented for payment within a reasonable time after its issue or the drawer will be discharged from liability thereon to the extent of the loss caused by the delay.

Sec. 1491. CERTIFYING CHECK.-Where a check is certified by the bank on which it is drawn the certification is equivalent to an acceptance.

Sec. 1492. DRAWER AND INDORSERS DISCHARGED. Where the holder of a check procures it to be accepted or certified the drawer and all indorsers are discharged from liability thereon.

Sec. 1493. CHECK NOT AN ASSIGNMENT OF FUNDS. A check of itself does not operate as an assignment of any part of the funds to the credit of the drawer with the bank, and the bank is not liable to the holder unless and until it accepts or certifies the check.

CHAPTER XLVII.

PARTNERS.

Sec. 1494. COMPOSITION WITH CREDITORS ON DISSOLUTION. -Where a partnership is dissolved, by mutual consent or otherwise, any partner may make a separate composition or compromise with any creditor of the partnership; and such composition or compromise shall be a full and effectual discharge to the debtor who makes the same, and to him only, of and from all and every liability to the creditor with whom the same is made, according to the terms thereof.

Sec. 1495. Every such debtor who makes such composition or compromise may take from the creditor with whom he makes the same a note or memorandum, in writing, exonerating him from all and every individual liability incurred by reason of his connection with the partnership, which note or memorandum may be given in evidence by such debtor, in bar of such creditor's right of recovery against him; and if such liability be by judgment, then, on the production and filing with the clerk of the notes or memorandum, the clerk shall enter the judg ment as released by the plaintiff as far as the compromising debtor is concerned.

Nor

Sec. 1496. Such compromise or composition with an individual member of a firm shall not be held to discharge the other partners, nor shall it impair the right of the creditor to proceed against such members of the partnership as have not been discharged; and the members of the partnership so proceeded against shall be permitted to set off any demand against the creditor which could have been set off had the suit been brought against all the individuals composing the firm. shall the compromise or discharge of an individual member of a firm prevent the other members of the firm from availing themselves of any defense that would have been available had this chapter not been passed, except that they shall not set up the discharge of one individual as a discharge of the other partners, unless it appear that all were intended to be discharged; but the discharge of any such partner shall be deemed a payment to the creditor equal to the proportionate interest of the partner discharged in the partnership concern.

Sec. 1497. Such compromise or composition of a member of a firm with a creditor of such firm shall in no wise affect the right of the other partners to call on the member who makes it for his ratable proportion of any partnership debt which they may be compelled to pay.

Sec. 1498. LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS.-Limited partnerships for the transaction of any mercantile, mechanical, or manufacturing business within the District may be formed by two or more persons upon the terms, with the rights and powers, and subject to the conditions and liabilities prescribed in this chapter.

Sec. 1499. Such partnership may consist of one or more persons, who shall be called general partners and who shall be jointly and severally responsible as general partners are by law, and of one or more persons who shall contribute, in actual cash payments, a specific sum as capital to the common stock, who shall be called special partners.

Sec. 1500. NUMBER. The number of special partners shall in no partnership exceed six.

Sec. 1501. LIABILITY.-The special partners shall not be liable for the debts of the partnership beyond the fund contributed by them to the capital.

Sec. 1502. CERTIFICATE TO BE SIGNED. -Persons desirous of forming a limited partnership shall make and severally sign a certificate, which shall contain

First. The name or firm under which such partnership is to be conducted.

Second. The general nature of the business intended to be transacted. Third. The names of all the general and special partners interested therein, distinguishing which are general and which are special partners, and their respective places of residence.

Fourth. The amount of capital which each special partner shall have contributed to the common stock.

Fifth. The period at which the partnership is to commence and the period at which it is to terminate.

Sec. 1503. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND RECORDING. The certificate shall be acknowledged by the several persons signing the same before a judge of any court in the District, or before any notary public, and such acknowledgments shall be made and certified in the same manner as the acknowledgments of deeds of land, and when so acknowledged and certified shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the supreme court of the District, and shall be recorded by him at large in a book kept for that purpose, open to public Inspection.

Sec. 1504. AFFIDAVITS.-At the time of filing the original certificate, with the evidence of the acknowledgment thereof, as directed in the preceding section, an affidavit of one or more of the general partners shall also be filed therewith in the same office, stating that the sums specified in the certificate to have been contributed by each of the special partners to the common stock have been actually and in good faith paid in cash.

Sec. 1505. No such partnership shall be deemed to have been formed until a certificate shall have been made, acknowledged, filed, and recorded, nor until an affidavit shall have been made and filed, as directed by the three preceding sections.

Sec. 1506. FALSE STATEMENTS.-If any false statement, not the result of accident or mistake, shall be made in the certificate or affidavit required by the preceding sections of this chapter, all the persons interested in the partnership shall be liable for all the engagements of such partnership as general partners.

Sec. 1507. PUBLICATION. The partners shall publish the terms of the partnership, when registered, three times a week for at least four weeks immediately after such registry in two newspapers to be desig

invalid for the reason only that it is antedated or postdated: Provided, That this is not done for an illegal or fraudulent purpose. The person to whom an instrument so dated is delivered acquires the title thereto as of the date of delivery.

Sec. 1317. WANT OF DATE. Where an instrument expressed to be payable at a fixed period after date is issued undated, or where the acceptance of an instrument payable at a fixed period after sight is undated, any holder may insert therein the true date of issue or acceptance, and the instrument shall be payable accordingly. The insertion of a wrong date does not avoid the instrument in the hands of a subsequent holder in due course; but as to him the date so inserted is to be regarded as the true date.

Sec. 1318. BLANKS.-Where the instrument is wanting in any material particular, the person in possession thereof has a prima facie authority to complete it by filling up the blanks therein. And a signature on a blank paper delivered by the person making the signature, in order that the paper may be converted into a negotiable instrument, operates as a prima facie authority to fill it up as such for any amount. In order, however, that any such instrument, when completed, may be enforced against any person who became a party thereto prior to its completion, it must be filled up strictly in accordance with the authority given and within a reasonable time; but if any such instrument, after completion, is negotiated to a holder in due course, it is valid and effectual for all purposes in his hands, and he may enforce it as if it had been filled up strictly in accordance with the authority given and within a reasonable time.

Sec. 1319. COMPLETING WITHOUT AUTHORITY.-Where an incomplete instrument has not been delivered it will not, if completed and negotiated without authority, be a valid contract in the hands of any holder as against any person whose signature was placed thereon before delivery.

Sec. 1320. DELIVERY.-Every contract on a negotiable instrument is incomplete and revocable until delivery of the instrument for the purpose of giving effect thereto. As between immediate parties and as regards a remote party other than a holder in due course, the delivery, in order to be effectual, must be made either by or under the authority of the party making, drawing, accepting, or indorsing as the case may be; and in such case the delivery may be shown to have been conditional or for a special purpose only, and not for the purpose of transferring the property in the instrument. But where the instrument is in the hands of a holder in due course, a valid delivery thereof by all parties prior to him, so as to make them liable to him, is conclusively presumed. And where the instrument is no longer in the possession of a party whose signature appears thereon, a valid and intentional delivery by him is presumed until the contrary is proved.

Sec. 1321. CONSTRUCTION.-Where the language of the instrument is ambiguous, or there are omissions therein, the following rules of construction apply:

First. Where the sum payable is expressed in words and also in figures and there is a discrepancy between the two, the sum denoted by the words is the sum payable; but if the words are ambiguous or uncertain, reference may be had to the figures to fix the amount.

Second. Where the instrument provides for the payment of interest without specifying the date from which interest is to run, the interest runs from the date of the instrument, and if the instrument is undated, from the issue thereof.

Third. Where the instrument is not dated it will be considered to be dated as of the time it was issued.

Fourth. Where there is conflict between the written and printed provisions of the instrument, the written provisions prevail.

Fifth. Where the instrument is so ambiguous that there is doubt whether it is a bill or note, the holder may treat it as either at his election.

Sixth. Where a signature is so placed upon the instrument that it is not clear in what capacity the person making the same intended to sign, he is to be deemed an indorser.

Seventh. Where an instrument containing the words "I promise to pay" is signed by two or more persons, they are deemed to be jointly and severally liable thereon.

Sec. 1322. WHO NOT LIABLE ON.-No person is liable on the instrument whose signature does not appear thereon, except as herein otherwise expressly provided. But one who signs in a trade or assumed name will be liable to the same extent as if he had signed in his own

name.

Sec. 1323. SIGNATURE BY AGENT.-The signature of any party may be made by a duly authorized agent. No particular form of appointment is necessary for this purpose, and the authority of the agent may be established as in other cases of agency.

Sec. 1324. AGENT, WHEN NOT LIABLE ON. -Where the instrument contains or a person adds to his signature words indicating that he signs for or on behalf of a principal, or in a representative capacity, he is not liable on the instrument if he was duly authorized, but the mere addition of words describing him as an agent or as filling a representative character without disclosing his principal does not exempt him from personal liability.

Sec. 1325. SIGNATURE BY PROCURATION.-A signature by "procuraoperates as notice that the agent has but a limited authority to sign, and the principal is bound only in case the agent in so signing acted within the actual limits of his authority.

Sec. 1326. INDORSEMENT BY CORPORATION OR INFANT.-The indorsement or assignment of the instrument by a corporation or by an infant passes the property therein, notwithstanding that from want of capacity the corporation or infant may incur no liability thereon.

Sec. 1327. FORGED SIGNATURE.—Where a signature is forged or made without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be it is wholly inoperative, and no right to retain the instrument, or to give a discharge therefor, or to enforce payment thereof against any party thereto can be acquired through or under such signature, unless the party against whom it is sought to enforce such right is precluded from setting up the forgery or want of authority.

Sec. 1328. PRESUMPTION OF VALUABLE CONSIDERATION.-Every negotiable instrument is deemed prima facie to have been issued for a valuable consideration, and every person whose signature appears thereon to have become a party thereto for value.