DAYS OF GRACE. Certain days allowed to the acceptor of a bill or the maker of a note in which to make payment, in addition to the time contracted for by the bill or note itself.
They are so called because formerly they were allowed as a matter of favor ; but the custom of merchants to allow such , clays of grace having grown into law, and been sanc tioned by the courts, all bills of exchange are by the law merchant entitled to days of grace as of right. The statute of Anne making promissory notes negotiable confers, the same right on those instruments. This act has been generally adopted throughout the Unit ed States; and the days of grace allowed are three ; Thomas v. Shoemaker, 6 W. & S. (Pa.) 179.; Chitty, Bills ; Byles, ,Bills.
The Uniform Negotiable Instruments Act passed in most of the states abolishes days of grace, but three days of grace are allowed on sight drafts in the Rhode Island Act, and on notes, acceptances, and sight drafts in the North Carolina act; the Massachusetts act was amended so as to allow days of grace on sight drafts ; also by the English 'Bills of Exchange Act (1882); Selover, Negot. Instr. 253. The following cases are retained as having at least historical interest: Bank checks are due on presentation and are not entitled to days of grace ; Wood RiVer Bank v. Bank, 36 Neb. 744, 55 N. W. 239.
The principle deducible from all the au thorities is, that, as to every bill not payable on demand, the day on which payment is to be made to prevent dishonor is to be deter mined by adding three days of grace, where the bill itself does not otherwise provide, to the time of payment as fixed by the bill. This principle is formulated into a 'statutory provision in England in the Bills of Ex change Act, 1882, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 61, § 14; Bell v, Bank, 115 U. S. 383, 6 Sup. Ct. 105, 29 L. Ed. 409; President, etc., of Bank of Washington v. Triplett, 1 Pet. (U. S.) 31, 7 L. Ed. 37.
Where there is an established usage of the place where the bill is payable to demand payment on the fourth or other day instead of the third, the parties to it will be bound by such usage ; Renner v. President, etc., of Bank, 9 Wheat. (U. S.) 582, 6 L. Ed; 166; Price v. Earl of Torrington, 1 Smith, Lead. Cas. 417. When the last day of grace hap pens on Sunday or a general holiday, as the 'Fourth of July, Christmas day, etc., the bill
is, due on the day previous, and must be pre sented on that day in order to hold the draw er and indorsers; Big. Bills & N. 90; Me chanics' & Farmers' Bank v. Gibson, 7 Wend. (N. Y.) 460 ; Bank of North America v. Pet tit, 4. Dail. (U. S.) 127, 1 L. Ed. 770; Fisher v. Evans, 5 Binn. (Pa.) 541; Brown v. Lusk, 4 Yerg. (Tenn.) 210 ; McRae v. Kennon, 1 Ala. 295, 34 Am. Dec. 777; Leavitt v. Slmes, 3 N. H. 14 ; contra, First Nat. Bank of Hast ings v. McAllister, 33 Neb. 646, 50 N. W. 1040; unless changed by statute as in some states. Days of gram are, for all practital purposes, a part of the time the bill has to run, and interest is charged on them; Presi dent, etc., of the Bank of Utica v. Wager, 2 Cow. (N. Y.) 712 ; 1 Dan. Neg: Instr. 489. According to the usage and custom of mer chants to fix the liability of the indorser of negotiable paper, it should be protested on the last day of grace ; Carey Lombard Lum ber Co. v. Bank, 86 Tex. 299, 24 S. W. 260.
In computing the days of grace allowed in a bond for the payment of interest, the day when the interest became payable will not be counted ; Serrell v. Rothstein, 49 N. J. Eq. 385, 24 Atl. 369. A bill payable in thirty days having been drawn and accepted on February 11th, of a leap year, the last day of grace falls on March 15th, the 29th of February being counted as a distinct day; Helphenstine v. Bank, 65 Ind. 582, 32 Am. Rep. 86.
Our courts always assume that the same number of days are allowed in other coun tries ; and a person claiming the benefit of a foreign law or usage must prove it; Bowen v. Newell, 13 N. Y. 290, 64 Am. Dec. 550; Ripley v. Greenleaf, 2 Vt. 129; President, etc., of the Farmers' Bank of Maryland v. Duvall, 7 Gill & J. (Md.) 78; President, etc., of the Bank of Alexandria v. Swann, 9 Pet. (U. S.) 33, 9 L. Ed. 40 ; Wood v. Corl, 4 Mete. (Mass.) 203. When properly the law of the place where the bill or note is payable prescribes the number of days of grace and the manner of calculating them; Dollfus v. Frosch, 1 Denio (N. Y.) 367 ; Story, Pr. Notes §§ 216, 247. The tendency to adopt as laws local usages or customs has been materially checked; Bowen v. Newell, 8 N. Y. 190.