BILL Or EXCI1ANGE. A written or der fruns one person to another, directing the person to whom it is addressed to pay to a third person a certain sum of money therein named. Ryles, Bills, 1.
A bill of exchange may be negotiable or non negotiable. If negotiable, it may be transferred either before or after acceptance.
The person making the bill, called the drawer, is said to draw upon the person to whom it is directed, and undertakes impliedly to pay the amount with certain costs if he refuse to comply with the com mand. The drawee is not liable on the bill till after acceptance, and then becomes liable as princi pal to the extent of the terms of the acceptance; while the drawer becomes liable to the payee and indorsees conditionally upon the failure of the ac ceptor to pay. The liabilities between indorsers and indorsees are subject to the same rules as those of indorsers and indorsees on promissory notes. Regularly, the drawee is the person to become ac ceptor; but other parties may accept, under special circumstances.
2. A forciyn bill of exchange is one of which the drawer and drawee are residents of countries foreign to each other. In this re spect the states of the United States are held foreign as to each other. 2 Pet. 589 ; 10 id. 572; 12 Pick. Mass. 483 ; 15 Wend. N. Y. 527 ; 3 A. K. Marsh. Ky. 488 ; 1 Const. So. C. 400 ; 1 Hill, So. C. 44 ; 4 Leigh, Va. 37'; 15 Me. 136; 18 id. 292; 20 id. 139. 8 Dan. Ky. 133; 9 N. H. 558 ; 4 Wash. C. C. 148. But see 5 Johns. N. Y. 384; 17 Ala. 247.
An inland bill is one of which the drawer and drawee are residents of the same state or country. 25 Miss. 143. As to whether a bill is considered as foreign or inland when made partly in one place and partly in another, see 5 Taunt. 529 ; 8 id. 679; Gow. 56 ; 1 Mania & S. 87.
The distinction between inland and foreign bills becomes important with reference to the question whether protest and notice are to be given in case of non-acceptance. See 3 Kent, Comm. 95 ; PROTEST.
3. The parties to a bill of exchange are the drawer, the drawee, the acceptor, and the payee. Other persons connected with a bill in case of a transfer as parties to the trans fer are the indorser, indorsee, and holder.
See those titles. It sometimes happens that one or more of the apparent parties to a bill are fictitious persons, The rights of a bond fide holder are not thereby prejudiced where the payee and indorser are fictitious, 2 H. Blackst. 78 ; 3 Term, 174, 481; 1 Campb. 130; 19 Ves. Ch. 311 ; or even where the drawer and payee are both fictitious, 10 Barnew. & C. 468 ; and all the various parties need not be different persons. 18 Ala. 76; I Story, C. C. 22. The qualifications of parties who are to be made liable by the making or transfer of bills are the same as in case of other con tracts. See PARTIES.
4. The bill must be written. I Pardessus, 344; 2 Strange, 955.
It must be properly dated; both as to place and time of making. Beawes, Lex Mere. pl. 3; 2 Pardessus, n. 333; 1 Barnew. & C. 398. See 30 Vt, 11.
The superscription of the sum for which the bill is payable will aid an omission in the bill, but is not indispensable. 2 East, Pl. Cr. 951; 1 R. I. 398.
The time of payment should be expressed ; but if no time is mentioned it is eonsi dered as payable on demand. 7 Term, 427 ; 2 Barnew. & C. 157.
The place of payment may be prescribed by the drawer, Beawes, Lex Mere. pl. 3; 8 O. B. 433; or by the acceptor on his accept ance, Chitty, Bills, 172; 3 Jur. 34; 7 Barb. N. Y.652 ; but is not as a general practice, in which last case the bill is considered as pay able and to be presented at the usual place of business of the drawee, 11 Penn. St. 456, at his residence, where it was made, or to him personally anywhere. IO Barnew. & C. 4; Mood. & M. 381; 4 Carr. & P. 35.
Such an order or request to pay must he made as demands a right, and not as asks a favor, Mood. & M. 171; and it must be abso lute, and not contingent. 8 Mod. 363; 4 Yes. Ch. 372 ; 1 Russ. & R. Cr. Cas. 193 ; 2 Barnew. & Ald. 417 ; 5 Term, 482 ; 4 Weod. N. Y. 275 ; 11 Mass. 14; 13 Ala. 205; 3 Heist. N. J. 262; 6 J. J. Marsh. Ky. 170; 1 Ohio, 272; 9 Miss. 393; 5 Ark. 401; 1 La. Ann. 48; 10 Tex.155. Mere civility in the terms does not alter the legal effect of the instrument.