PRESENTMENT AND NOTICE OF DISHONOR 1. Presentment for acceptance.--When a bill is payable at sight or after sight, presentment for ac ceptance is necessary in order to fix the maturity of the instrument: a sight bill being payable on the third day after acceptance, and a bill payable after sight being payable on third day after the expiry of the time after sight stated in the bill. A bill pay able at sight is not, under our law, payable on demand. So also when a bill expressly stipulates that it shall be presented for acceptance, or if it is drawn payable elsewhere than at the residence or place of business of the drawee, it must be presented for acceptance be fore it can be presented for payment. In no other case, says the act, is presentment for acceptance neces sary in order to render liable any party on the bill. The drawer and indorsers are entitled to have the bill presented for acceptance in the cases above men tioned; Otherwise they are discharged as toward the holder. When a bill is payable at sight, or at a fixed period after date, after sight, or after the happening of a specified event, - the time of payment is deter mined by excluding the day from which the time is to begin to run and by including the day of pay ment. If a bill is payable at sight, or at a fixed pe riod after sight, the time begins from the date of the acceptance if the bill is accepted, and from the date of noting or protest if the bill is noted or protested for non-acceptance or for non-delivery. When, in such a case, one or more do not accept, the acceptan9e becomes at once qualified, and the drawer and indorsers will be discharged unless the holder has notified them, or has treated the bill as dishonored.
When authorized by agreement or usage, a pre sentment thru the post office is sufficient. When the drawee is dead, presentment may be made to his personal representative. But presentment is excused, and the bill may be treated as dishonored for non acceptance, when the drawee is dead, or is a fictitious person, or a person not having capacity to contract. It is also excused when, after the exercise of reason able diligence, presentment cannot be made, for in stance if the drawee cannot be found. It is not ex cused simply because the holder has reason to believe that the bill, on presentment, will be dishonored. The duties of the holder with respect to presentment for acceptance or payment, and the necessity for, or sufficiency of, a protest or notice of dishonor, are de termined by the law of the place where the act is done or the bill is dishonored.
2. Presentment for the bill is not duly presented for payment, the drawer and indor sers are discharged. They are entitled to have every formality strictly observed. As toward the acceptor himself, as he is primarily liable, presentment for payment is not necessary to hold him liable. But, if he has been sued on the bill, without having been given a chance to pay it by having it presented to him for payment, the court may award the costs in its discre tion. When, however, a bill is dishonored by non acceptance, an immediate right of recourse against the drawer and indorsers accrues to the holder, and no presentment for payment is necessary.
Presentment for payment or protest, if the bill is noted or protested for non-acceptance, is made by the bolder.' A word should also be said here as to how the due date of a bill is determined. Every bill which is made payable at a month or months after date becomes due on the same numbered day of the month in which it is made payable as the day which it is dated, unless there is no such day in the month in which it is made payable, in which case it becomes due on the last day of that month, with the addition, in all cases, of the days df grace. The term "month" in a bill means the calendar month.
3. When, where and how bill is duly presented for acceptance when it is presented, by or on behalf of the holder, to the drawee, or to some per son authorized to accept or refuse acceptance on his behalf, at a reasonable hour on a business day and before the bill is overdue. If it is accepted after ma turity, it becomes a demand bill, and subject to the rule that, in order to hold the indorser liable, it must be .presented for payment within a reasonable time after its indorsement, and a reasonable time after its issue, in order to hold the drawer. What is a rea sonable hour for presentment will depend on the cir cumstances. If presentable at a man's office, it should be during ordinary office hours, or during banking hours, if at a bank; if at his house, probably at any reasonable hour when he would ordinarily be there.