4. According to Boulay-Faty, Dr. Corn. t. 2, p. 19, the clearance Is imperatively de manded for the of the vessel ; for if a vessel should viithout it at sea it may be legally taken and brought into some court for adjudiCation on a charge of 'piracy, See SHIP'S PAPERS, and the Regulations under the Revenue Laws, above referred to, 88-98.
In Commercial Law. An office where bankers settle daily with each other the balances of their ac counts.
The London clearing-house has been established for some • and a similar office was opened in New York in 1853. The plan was found so efficient as to recommend it to bankers in all our large cities, and it is being generally introduced. The Clearing House association of New York consists of fifty-four incorporated banks,—private bankers not heing ad mitted, as in London. Two clerks from each bank attend at the clearing-house every morning, where one takes a position inside of an elliptical counter nt a desk bearing the number of his bank, the other standing outside the counter and holding in his hand fifty-four parcels, containing the checks on each of the other banks received the previous day. At the sound of a bell, the outside men begin to move, and at each desk they deposit the proper parcel, with an account of its contents,—until, hav ing walked around the ellipse, they find themselves at their own desk again. At the end of this process
the representative of each bank has handed to the representatives of every other bank the demands against them, and received;from each of the other banks their demands on his bank. A comparison of the amounts tells him 'at once whether he has to pay into or receive from the clearing-house a balance in money. • The olearing-house is under the charge of a superintendent and several clerk. aro ,paid. in coin 'daily. . In London the prsetice.of presenting checks at the clearing-house has bedh held a good presentment to the banker at law. It is not usual to examine the checks until they.are taken to the bank, and if any are then found not good they are returned to the hank which pre sented them, which settles for such returned checks in coin. In this country, when a cheek is returned not good through the clearing-house, it is usually again presented at the bank; and no case has arisen to test the validity of a presentment through the elearing-honse only.
See Sewell, Banking ; Gilbart, Banking; Byles, Bills ; Pulling, Laws and Customs of London; Cleveland, Banking Laws of New York.