if certain letters shall be complied with," or provided "he shall Bills or notes drawn or made in any part, and payable in any Inland and other part of the British islands, viz., Great Britain, Ireland, foreign bills. Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, and the islands adjacent, are inland bills and notes (c). Bills drawn in the United Kingdom and payable in any foreign country, or drawn in any foreign country and payable in the United Kingdom, are foreign bills. Though the bill was written and accepted in England, if it be transmitted abroad for the signature of the drawer, and it is there drawn, the bill is a foreign bill. sets. Foreign bills are usually issued in sets of several parts, each Bills drawn in part containing a condition that it shall be payable only so long as all the other parts remain unpaid; thus, the first is payable only "second and third unpaid," the second "first and third unpaid," and the third "first and second unpaid," but the whole set constitute but one bill. All the copies of the set must otherwise be identically the same. When a bill is drawn in a set each part ought to be delivered to the person in whose favour it is made (d). The drawer cannot refuse to deliver the second or third of exchange when required. FOREIGN LAWS. lettres de France.-A bill of exchange, or lettre de change, must be Requisites of drawn from one place upon another; it must be dated, it must change. specify the sum to be paid, the name of the person who is to pay, the time and place where the payment is to be made, and (a) Palmer v. Pratt, 9 Moore, 358; Carlos v. Fancourt, 5 T. R. 482; Ex parte Tootel, 4 Ves. jun. 372; Beardesley v. Baldwin, 2 Stra. 1151. (b) Dawkes v. Lord de Loraine, 2 W. Bl. 782; Stevens v. Hill, 5 Esp. 247; Hill v. Halford, 2 B. & P. 413. (d) Holdsworth v. Hunter, 10 B. & the name of the person in whose favour it is drawn. The bill may be drawn in favour of a third person, or of the drawer himself, provided it be made to order. It must also indicate the value given for it, whether in specie, in merchandise, on account, or in any other manner. A bill of exchange must be in writing. If the bill is drawn in a set it must specify it.. A bill of exchange wanting any of these requisites is only a simple promise. Must be drawn The first condition to the validity of a bill of exchange in France from one place upon another. is, that it be drawn from one place upon another, and the reason is, that, otherwise, the various contingencies of abundance or scarcity of money and other risks attending the contract of exchange would be altogether wanting. The date includes the day when and the place where the bill is drawn. The time is required to establish the capacity of the drawer either in respect of his age or in respect of his solvency. To antedate a bill is a misdemeanor. The place is required to prove that the first condition of the bill has been fulfilled. The sum to be paid must be precise. It may be expressed in cyphers or in words. The name of the drawee should be clearly expressed. It is usual to write it below the bill. The drawer cannot himself be the party to pay the bill, otherwise it will no longer be a bill of exchange. A person may draw upon his commission agent, or upon his house in another place when he has two houses of trade. But he could not draw upon his clerk, or upon his wife, where there is a community of goods between them. A bill of exchange must state the time when it will be paid. It must be payable on the expiration of a certain number of days, weeks, or months, or after one or many usances, or at so many days, weeks, or months, after sight. The place where the payment will be made must be set forth. Where no place is indicated by the party himself the drawer will intend it to be payable at the domicile of the drawee. The bill of exchange must express the name of the party to whom it must be paid. The bill must be made to order; if made only in favour of the payee, he will be entitled to exact the payment, but he cannot indorse the bill to another. The bill may be payable to the order of the payee, or of a third person, or of the drawer himself. Though the words " to order" are not inserted, it will be sufficient if there be equivalent words. The value received, and in what kind, must be stated. The words "valeur reçue comptant" A person cannot draw upon himself. are sufficient. The words "valeur en moi-même" are not sufficient. billet à ordre. A promissory note, or "billet à ordre," is an engagement by Requisites of which one person binds himself to pay a certain sum to another, or to whomsoever becomes the legitimate owner of the note. The note must be dated, must state the sum to be paid, the name of the person in whose favour he has signed it, the time when the payment must be made, the value given in kinds, merchandise, on account, or in any other manner. The promissory note signed by a person not in trade must be written in extenso in his own hand, and must express the sum in words. But there is no distinction between the billet or note signed by a person in trade or not in trade. United States of America.-A bill of exchange is a written order or request, and a promissory note a written promise by one person to another for the payment of money, absolutely, and at all events. A bill or note is not confined to any set form of words. A promise to deliver or to be accountable, or to be responsible for so much money, is a good bill or note; but it must be exclusively and absolutely for the payment of money. It is essential that the bill carry with it a personal credit given to the drawer or indorser, and that it be not confined to credit upon any future or contingent event or fund. The payment must not rest upon any contingency except the failure of the general personal credit of the person drawing or negotiating the instrument. If the event on which the instrument is to become payable be fixed and certain, and must happen, it is a good bill, and it is of no consequence how long the payment is to be postponed. The instrument must be made payable to the payee, and to his order or assigns, or to bearer, in order to render it negotiable. It must have negotiable words on its face, showing it to be the intention to give it a transferable quality. Without them it is. a valid instrument as between the parties, and is entitled to the allowance of the three days of grace, and may be declared on as a promissory note within the statute. But if it wants negotiable words, it cannot be transferred or negotiated, so as to enable the assignee to sue upon it in his own name. If the name of the payee or indorser be left blank, any bond fide holder may insert his name as payee. It is usual to insert the words value received in a bill or note, but they are u A bill carries with it a per sonal credit. Maker's name. Time of payment. and value is implied in every bill, note, acceptance, and indorsement. These words are not usual in cheques, which are negotiable like inland bills, and are governed by the same rules. Nor is it necessary that the maker should subscribe his name at the bottom of the note; and it is sufficient if the maker's name be in any part of the note. A note wanting the usual subscription would be deemed imperfect, and it would, in point of fact, destroy its currency. If the note be payable to B. or bearer, it need not be indorsed, and it is the same in effect as if the name of B. had been omitted. The bearer may sue in his own name, and if his right and title and the consideration be called in question, he must then show that he came by the note bona fide, and for a valuable consideration. So a bill or note payable to a fictitious person may be sued by an innocent indorsee as a note payable to bearer; and such a bill or note is good against the drawer or maker, and will bind the acceptor, if the fact that the payee was fictitious was known to the acceptor (a). Germany. The essential conditions of a bill of exchange are, The expression "bill of exchange," or if the bill is drawn in a foreign language, a word of equal import. The sum to be paid. The name of the person, or of the firm to whom, or to whose order payment ought to be made. The time of payment which can only be fixed at a specified day, at sight, or at a determined time after sight, after presentation, at a fixed time after the day that the bill of exchange has been drawn, at a fair, or at a market. The signature. of the drawer, or that of his commercial house. The designation of the place, the day, the month, and the year where and when the bill of exchange had been drawn. The name of the person, or of the firm, who ought to pay it, or the drawee, and the indication of the place where the payment ought to be effected; the place will be stated side by side with the name, or with the firm of the drawee, unless a different place has been indicated for the payment than the domicile of the drawee (b). Buenos Ayres.-A bill of exchange is a written order by which a person orders another to pay a sum of money. Its essential requisites are the designation of the place, day, month, and year when it is issued; the sum to be paid, and in what (a) Kent's Commentaries, vol. iii., p. 3. (b) German Law on Bills of Exchange, § 4. currency; the time and place of payment; the name of the the contrary (a). make a bill or note. Denmark.-A bill of exchange is an instrument by which a Who can person who is called the drawer, undertakes formally to send a sum of money by means of another person who is called the drawee, into another place, to the party who may be the lawful holder of the instrument. No denizen can draw bills of exchange upon himself, not even payable in another town than that of his residence; such bills would only be equivalent to promissory notes. An instrument drawn out in the form of a bill of exchange, but not truly a bill of exchange, to be presented and paid in another place, will not have the same force as a bill of exchange, and the offender shall pay half the amount of the bill as a fine, the half of which will be for the informer, and the other half for the Treasury (b). Holland.-A bill of exchange is an instrument by which the drawer charges a person to pay in another place than that of the date of the bill, either at sight, or at a certain time after sight, to the party designated in it, or to his order, the sum expressed in it, with an acknowledgment of value received, or value on account (c). (a) Buenos Ayres Code, §§ 775-780. (b) Danish Ordinance of May 18, 1825. (c) Dutch Code, §§ 100-103. |