The bill as a negotiable instrument being thus complete in all its parts, may ether be held by the drawer or other payee till due, when it may be presented for payment to the acceptor, or it may at once be transferred by indorsement (q.v.), the iudorsee taking it for its value at maturity,ancl in the mean time cashing or discounting it to the holder. There may be a succession of indorsees, the last of whom is entitled to payment; and to him all the other indorsees, as well as the drawee and drawer, are bound.
When the bill comes to maturity—that is, when the period arrives for its present ment—it must either be at once paid, or the parties must arrange for its renewal (q.v.). If the latter course is not agreed on, and the necessary funds are not forthcoming, the holder can only then proceed to recover at law; and this is now done in a very speedy form under a recent act, the 18 and 19 Viet. c. 67. This act, however, does not extend to Ireland, where the old form of action still prevails. But in Scotland payment of bills may be enforced even more summarily without any action, under the severe provisions of two old Scotch acts passed in 1681 and 1696. See INDORSEMENT, PROMISSORY-NOTE, RENEWAL. Bills are sometimes• drawn ".at sight," "on demand," or at "one day's
date;" and in these' cases it is doubtful whether the three days of grace allowed for payment beyond the literal time specified in•the document are applicable. Unless in special cases, bills, by the statute of limitations (see LIMITATION) in England, and by prescription (q.v.) in Scotland, do not cease to be valid documents for six years.
In the United States there has sprung up a method of dealing with bills of exchange which is not much known in England. This consists: in selling bills without a concur rent obligation by indorsement to make them.good. Instead of discounting his bills in the usual form through a banker, a merchant in New York will sell his bills to a broker or dealer in this kind of instrument, the price paid being according to the state of the money-market and the creditworthiness of the acceptor. In such cases, the purchaser stan(ls in the place of the drawer, undertakes all risks, and as custodier of the bill, has the power of legally exacting payment. This method of transacting with bills is called discounting trithout recourse.