Noting and protest.—It is not obligatory to note or protest a dishonoured inland bill ; but if a dishonoured foreign bill is not protested, the drawer and indorsers are discharged. The protest and noting should be on the day of dishonour, and the holder may cause a bill to be protested " for better security" before it matures, where the acceptor has become bankrupt, or insolvent, or has suspended payment. The protest must be made at the place where the bill is dishonoured. But when a bill is presented through the post-office, and returned by post dishonoured, it may be protested at the place to which it is returned, and on the day of its return if received during business hours, and if not received during business hours, then not later than the next business day. And when a bill drawn payable at the place of business or residence of some person other than the draw ee has been dis honoured by non-acceptance, it must be protested for non-payment at the place where it is payable, and no further presentment for payment to, or demand on, the drawee is necessary. The protest must contain a copy of the bill, and be signed by the notary, and specify (a) the person at whose request the bill is protested ; (b) the place and date of protest, the cause or reason for protesting the bill, the demand made, and the answer given, if any, or the fact that the drawee or acceptor could not be found. Where a bill is lost or destroyed, or is wrongly detained from the person entitled to hold it, protest may may be made on a copy or written particulars thereof. Protest is dispensed with by any circumstance which would dispense with notice of dishonour. Delay in noting or protesting is excused when the delay is caused by circumstances beyond the control of the holder, and not imputable to his default, misconduct, or negligence. When the cause of delay ceases to operate, the bill must be noted or protested with reasonable diligence. Where a bill is required to be protested within a specified time, or before some further proceeding is taken, it is sufficient that the bill has been noted for protest before the expiration of the specified time or the taking of the proceeding; and the formal protest may be extended at any time thereafter as of the date of the Should a dishonoured bill be required to be protested, and the services of a notary cannot be obtained at the place where the bill is dishonoured, any householder or substantial resident of the place may, in the presence of two witnesses, give a certificate, signed by them, attesting the dishonour of the bill, and the certificate will in all respects operate as if it were a formal protest of the bill. The following form is sufficient, and may be used with any necessary modifications:— Know all men that I, A. B. [householder], of in the county of , in the United Kingdom, at the request of C. D., there being no notary public available, did on the day of 19 , at demand payment [or acceptance] of the bill of exchange, here under written, from E. F., to which demand he made answer [state answer, if any], wherefore I now, in the presence of G. II. and J. K., do protest the said bill of exchange.
(Signed) A. B.
G. II. Witnesses.
J. K.
bill itself should be annexed, or a copy of the bill and all that is written thereon should be underwritten.
Duties of holder as regards drawee or acceptor.—In order to render the acceptor liable, it is not necessary to present for payment when the bill is accepted generally.When by the terms of a qualified acceptance present ment for payment is required, the acceptor, in the absence of an express stipulation to that effect, is not discharged by the omission to present the bill for payment on the clay that it mature!. , In order to render an acceptor
liable it is neither necessary to give notice of dishonour or to protest. Where the holder of a bill presents it for payment, he must exhibit it to the person from whom he demands payment, and when paid must deliver it up to the party paying.
Liabilities of parties.--A bill, of itself, does not operate as an assignment of funds in the hands of the drawee available for the payment thereof, and the drawee of a bill who does not accept is not liable in the instrument. The case would be different in Scotland, for there, if the drawee of a bill has in his hands funds available for the payment thereof, such bill operates as an assign ment of the sum for which it is drawn in favour of the holder, from the time when the bill is presented to the drawee.
Liability of acceptor of a bill, by accepting it, (1) engages to pay it according to the tenor of his acceptance ; (2) is precluded from denying to a holder in due course (a) the existence of the drawer, the genuineness of his signature, and his capacity and authority to draw the bill ; (b) in the case of a bill payable to drawer's order, the then capacity of the drawer to indorse, but not the genuineness or validity of his indorsement •, (c) in the case of a bill payable to the order of a third party, the existence of the payee and his then capacity to indorse, but not the genuineness or validity of his indorsement.
Liability of drawer or drawer of a bill, by drawing it, (a) engages that on due presentment it shall be accepted and paid according to its tenor, and that if it be dishonoured he will compensate the holder or any indorser who is compelled to pay it, provided that the requisite proceedings on dishonour are duly taken ; (b) is precluded from denying to the holder in due course the existence of the payee and his then capacity to indorse. The indorser of a bill, by indorsing it, (a) engages that on due presentment it shall be accepted and paid according to its tenor, and that if it be dishonoured he will compensate the holder or a subsequent indorser who is compelled to pay it, provided that the requisite proceedings on dishonour be duly taken ; (b) is precluded from denying to a holder in due course the genuineness and regularity in all respect of the drawer's signature and all previous indorse ments ; (c) is precluded from denying to his immediate or a subsequent indorsee that the bill was at the time of his indorsement a valid and subsisting bill, and that he had then a good title thereto.
Stranger signing a person signs a bill otherwise than as drawer or acceptor, he thereby incurs the liabilities of an indorser to a holder in due course.
The sum payable on dishonour is the amount of the bill, interest, and the expenses of protest and noting ; this is recoverable as liquidated damages and may be the subject of a specially indorsed writ in the High Court, or of a special Nil of exchange summons for speedy recovery issued in the County Court. If the bill has been dishonoured abroad, the amount of re-exchange and interest thereon may be recovered instead of the above. If justice require it, the Court may refuse to allow interest wholly or in part, even though the rate is expressed in the bill itself.
Transferor by delivery and the holder of a bill payable to bearer negotiates it by delivery without indorsing it, he is called a "trans feror by delivery " ; he is not liable thereon. But such a transferor warrants to his immediate transferee being a holder for value that the bill is N% hat it purports to be, that he has a right to transfer it, and that at the time of the transfer he is not aware of any fact which renders it valueless.